


History On Repeat

by WhiteRoseFlame



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Deja Vu, Next Generation, Sisterhood, im not good with tags @@
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-19 10:40:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 76,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5964283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteRoseFlame/pseuds/WhiteRoseFlame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trisha and Nina Elric are the daughters of the famous Elric Brothers. As such, a great deal of expectations and burdens are placed on them. During their time training with their fathers' "Teacher from hell," the one thing the Elric Brothers did their best to keep their daughters from rears its ugly head. After coming face to face with the same tragedy, Trisha must do everything she can to correct her mistake, and Nina must confront her own demons... or be devoured by them.</p><p>Based on the end of the manga, this story was inspired by a panel by Vic Mignogna that I watched where he said he enjoyed strong female characters in a story. I can't find the video of that panel anymore, so if anyone knows what I'm talking about, a link would be greatly appreciated. This story is also available on Fanfiction.net under the same title and pseudonym. </p><p>Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nostalgia

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Hiromu Arakawa and Vic Mignogna  
> ~Dedicated to those with a Fullmetal Heart~
> 
> Once again, if anyone knows which convention Vic mentioned the "strong female character" at, please let me know! Also, if I completely misheard him or made this up, let me know that as well. I have the memory span of Dory. XD

**_Nostalgia_ **

 

     It was 6:30 in the morning, yet she wasn’t tired. This was thanks to her wise decision to go to bed super early—so early that she had to close her open windows and squeeze shut the thick curtains in her bedroom as it was still day time, courtesy of the Spring season. Her mother gave her “the look” to which she just put on her best smile and said that her and her cousin were going to wake up early and watch the sunrise.

            You’d think her mother wouldn’t be so gullible given who she married. Fat chance. Both she and her father were all time masters of persuasion, among other secrets.

            She leaned all of her weight into the overstuffed suitcase, trying to make as little noise as possible. Though her father was probably the heaviest sleeper in all of Amestris, her mother had a nose for trouble that was stronger than a shark’s for blood. After finally forcing the lid closed, she locked the clasp and fastened the strap buckles in place. Quietly she sighed and grabbed her black boots and crimson coat. She placed her scrawled letter on her desk, quietly opened her door and slinked out and down the stairs, pausing at the bottom step to listen for any signs of waking parents. When she heard only silence, her peach lips broke out into a face splitting grin.

            _Success!_

            She blew a kiss at her parents’ bedroom and eased open the front door. After it was safely closed and she was down the porch stairs into the silent grass, she broke out into a furious dash.

            The sound of something whistling through the air was too quick for her to process, and she was struck on the back of the head with the hardest substance known to man, second only to diamond: iron.

            This was confirmed when she lifted her pulsing head, golden blonde hair falling around her face, and she saw it.

A wrench.

One thought flashed through her mind.

            _Run!_

            Her escape was in vain, for as she barely made it to her feet and she started running again another iron wrench clocked her upside the back of her head and she face planted the ground once more. She growled and whipped around on the ground, glaring at the culprit.

            “Dammit, Mom! Stop throwing wrenches! You’re gonna crack my skull open!”

            The culprit, Winry Elric, stood on the porch, another wrench in her raised hand. A look similar to that of a snarling dog crossed her face. She wore naught but her thin, cotton nightgown. Her pale blonde hair fell around her face and shoulders messily.

            “Trisha Elric, you get back in this house right now!”

            Trisha pursed her lips and ran her fingers over her scalp, checking for blood. None. Luckily. She’d rather not have stitches again. A look of defiance pulled at her boyish features.

            “No.” The moment the syllable left her pouting lips, she dodged another projectile wrench split second. “You almost took my head off with that one!”

            Winry pulled out three more wrenches and Trisha paled. _Where is she keeping all of them!?_

            “One!”

            Trisha dodged the fourth wrench of the morning. “Mom, wait! Listen to me!”

            “Two!”

            Wrench number five. “Come on! Let’s talk this out!”

            “Three!”

            The sixth never came, even as Trisha covered her face with her arms. Winry looked back and Trisha looked up to see her father grasping the wrench in Winry’s hand. Edward Elric stood bleary eyed behind Winry, scuffing his messy, long blonde hair with his free hand. He yawned widely and yanked the wrench out of Winry’s hand.

            “Where do you even get all of these? I swore I hid the bulk of them just days ago.” He tossed the wrench back in the house.

            Winry turned on him and placed her hands on her hips. “Your daughter is trying to run off again!”

            “Eh?” Edward muttered, half asleep. He yawned again. “You’re surprised?”

            “Don’t ‘eh’ me! Do something!”

            Edward only blinked. However, in the distance, Trisha yelled, “Dad said I could!”

            Edward’s eyes suddenly snapped fully open, now completely awake. “Er…”

            Winry’s eyes narrowed. “Ed?”

            Edward frowned deeply and sweated superfluously. He suddenly turned around and made for the stairs. “I’m going back to bed.”

            Winry snatched a handful of his golden locks and dragged him back. Edward protested in pain. “You told her to go!?”

            “Come on Winry! You knew this was coming!” Edward clutched his head as Winry continued to yank at his hair.

            “Allan didn’t leave until he was grown! I expected her to do the same!”

            “Well, Allen was like me when he was young, then he turned into you! Trisha is the opposite! It makes sense logically!”

            “Don’t start that science crap with me!”

            Trisha blinked, unenthused by her parent’s antics. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Reaching into her coat pocket she pulled out two white gloves, each had embroidered, red circles on them with runes within the circles. She slipped them on, clapped her hands together and placed her hands on the ground.

            Edward and Winry were so busy bickering back and forth that the light from Trisha’s alchemy and the sound of Earth shifting came and went unnoticed.

            “For the last time! She’s not leaving home until she’s eighteen! Now go and get her!” Winry pointed.

            Edward growled and looked over to the spot where Trisha was standing. However he blinked in surprise and sighed. “Too late.”

            Winry looked over and gasped. In Trisha’s place was an Earthen dummy with big round eyes, an antenna, and a tongue sticking out. Around the base was the word “suckers.”

            “Trisha Sara Elric you are grounded!” Winry roared at the escaping girl.

            Trisha beamed back at them, laughing as she ran with her suitcase. “I’ll take my punishment when I get back!”

            “When the hell is that going to be!?” Winry yelled back with tears in her eyes. She sniffled and Edward sighed and smiled down at her, embracing her.

            “Crybaby. She’ll be fine.”

            “Shut up…” Winry sniffled, pulling out another wrench and throwing it at the dummy fashioned from alchemy.

            Edward laughed at her and pushed her gently back inside.

            _If Trisha is leaving, then that means_ **she** _will probably be there too…_

 

\---

 

Another young girl with long golden blonde hair and black bangs sat on the edge of the train station platform. Her hair was pleated into a long braid down her back, tied off with a blue ribbon. In her lap sat Xiao Mei the panda. As the girl swung her legs back and forth, Xiao Mei did the same, copying her. Beside them sat a suitcase similar to that of Trisha’s.

            She looked across the grassy plains of Risembool. “Goodbye, green grass.” She looked up at the aquamarine sky. “Goodbye, blue sky.”

            “And what about me?”

            She blinked and turned to glance behind her with large, dark eyes. An older boy wearing a pine tree, short sleeved shirt and beige coveralls, carrying a crate of what looked like wine towards the cargo car of the train. He had dark brown hair and wore a red bandana.

            The girl smiled up at him and laughed. “Goodbye, Gunther. And say goodbye to your dad for me too.”

            Gunther laughed. “So, Nina, your parents are really letting you go on this trip?”

            “Yeah. Papa said that I have a lot of Mama in me, so he knew I’d be okay,” Nina smiled brightly.

            “Well, damn! Why can’t my mom think that way!?” Nina and Gunther turned to see Trisha standing there out of breath, an irritated scowl on her face. She wore black, fitting pants, black boots with white laces, a black tank that hugged her chest and her father’s trademark red coat. Her blonde hair stuck out every which way from being windblown.

            Gunther smiled at the Trisha. “So, I’m guessing you ran away?”

            Trisha growled, baring her teeth and stomped up to the boy. She stopped in front of him and lifted her head to look up into his face. “I didn’t run away! I escaped my mom’s wrath!” She whipped to the side, crossing her arms and closing her eyes. “Besides, my dad didn’t have any problems with it! As far as I’m concerned, this trip is allowed!”

            “Sure. Like that’d change anything,” Nina grinned playfully at her older cousin.

            Trisha clenched her fists and growled at her laughing younger cousin.

            “Well, have fun wherever you’re headed,” Gunther nodded to them. “Hope you grow a couple inches next time I see you, Trisha!”

            A vein popped in Trisha’s temple and the cowlick resting in the middle of her bangs twitched. She growled and roared at Gunther, “What was that?!! You’re just aching for me to break one of those wine bottles over your head, aren’t ‘cha!!??”

            When Gunther laughed as he walked away, Trisha attempted to run after him, clapping her hands together. However, Nina was already behind her, holding her back by her arms.

            “Come on~ We don’t want to miss our train. And we still have to get our tickets.”

            With a sigh, Trisha gave up and snatched up her suitcase, stomping away. “I’ll get him next time!”

            “Sure sure~” Nina sang as she picked up her own suitcase and set Xiao Mei on her head, following after her hot blooded cousin.

            The two girls stopped in front of the ticket vendor. Trisha slammed one hand on top of the counter, a wad of cash underneath her palm. “Two tickets to—“

            “Dublith,” came two low voices behind her.

            Trisha and Nina blinked, both knowing exactly who the voices belonged to. The both turned around, Nina with a surprised expression, and Trisha with a terrified one. Standing behind them were their fathers. Alphonse wore his same, warm smile, dressed in a white button up and black slacks. Edward, now with his hair brushed and pulled back into a long ponytail, wore a black tank and black slacks. His expression was cocky as ever.

            “That IS where you’re going, right?” Ed tilted his head knowingly, his grin growing wider by the second.

            Trisha scowled and clicked her tongue. “Tch. You found us out.”

            Her father’s expression switched to irritated. “What do you mean ‘tch!?’ It was obvious where you two were going!”

            Alphonse laughed at his brother and only niece who never ceased to amaze him as to just how similar she was to her father. He turned his own daughter. “Are you sure this is what you want? You know how hard it will be.”

            Edward turned away, placing a hand on his head, shaking it back and forth gravely. “I can’t even fathom _why the hell_ you would want to go there in the first place!”

            Nina opened her mouth to speak, but Trisha beat her to the punch. “Does there have to be a reason other than alchemy?” Trisha’s eyes, as she looked at her father and her uncle, burned with intensity. “It doesn’t matter why. What matters is what we get out of it!”

            The three others blinked at her. Trisha’s expression didn’t waver. Suddenly Alphonse looked to his brother and snorted in laughter. Edward growled and shouted at him, “SHUT UP! DON’T EVEN GO THERE!”

            Alphonse held up his hands and Edward turned back to the girls, sighing and scratching the back of his head. “Alright, fine. Just remember to call your mother as often as you can. You know how she gets.”

            Trisha’s serious look fell and then she broke out into a wide, beaming smile. “I’ll call if you don’t tell her where I’m going. She’ll kill both of us!”

            Edward groaned and muttered something about scouring the house for more wrenches but nodded. Alphonse nodded as well and Nina stepped forward to hug her father tightly.

            When they were finally on the train, the two girls leaned out of the window as Edward and Alphonse stood next to it.

            “Be careful. Make sure you eat right and get lots of sleep!” Alphonse reminded. “And drink your milk!”

            Nina chimed in with an “okay” as both Trisha and Edward clicked their tongues in disgust.

            “Like hell,” Trisha growled. Then she blinked and turned to her father who looked back at her with a suspicious look in his eyes. “You were super short in the beginning, so how did you get so tall?”

            Edward’s face scrunched in annoyance and a vein pulsed in his forehead. He leaned forward, coming within an inch of his daughter’s nose. “I told you never to bring that up,” he growled.

            Nina giggled. “Taboo subject.”

            Alphonse shrugged and shook his head. “Amazing. She called him short AND tall in the same breath. Talk about a backhanded compliment.”

            Trisha grinned. “That’s okay. I’ll figure it out on my own.” She kissed her father’s forehead and leaned back inside the train car. “And then I’ll come back even taller than you!”

            “Yeah right! As if! You’re a girl, so your DNA is hardwired for you to be short!”

            “Then I’ll REWIRE my DNA so I’ll be tall!”

            “Are you trying to turn yourself into a chimera!? Besides, that’d be human transmutation! You can’t do that!”

            “If becoming a chimera is what it’ll take to be taller, then I’ll do it! Evolution doesn’t stop at humans! If giraffes can grow taller by stretching their necks to reach high branches then I’ll stretch every day till I grow taller!”

            Edward was about to retaliate when he paused, mid breath and put his hand to his chin. “No wait. That actually makes sense.”

            Alphonse laughed at the two of them. “No it doesn’t! Giraffes are tall because of natural selection of giraffes who were born taller than other giraffes.”

            Trisha grinned as the train blew its whistle and started to pull out of the station. “Ha! Dad is tall and Mom is tall, so that means that I’ll be tall too!”

            Once again, Edward opened his mouth to quip back, but brother’s hand stopped him. Alphonse shook his head and turned to wave at the girls. Edward sighed and smiled, raising his hand to wave at them. From the window of the train car, the girls waved back, shouting their love. When the train was out of sight, they lowered their hands. Edward’s chin dropped, his eyes staring down at the open toed sandals he wore. His gaze shifted back and forth between his feet.

            One foot of flesh and blood.

            The other of steel and oil.

            He raised his hands, palm up. And for the slightest, briefest of moments, he could have sworn his right hand matched his left foot. However when he blinked, it was whole again, normal, feeling. He clenched it, unclenched it, and then clenched it again. He kept his hand a tight fist until his knuckles cracked and his wrist ached. He welcomed the dull pain. It felt human. He sighed in relief and shook his head.

            “So you feel it too?”

            Edward turned to see his brother raise one hand to clench his opposite arm. He then pushed up his sleeve and grazed his nails over his skin. Alphonse rose his arm to look at the white trails on his arm, caused by his nails.

            “I hope they’ll be okay,” Alphonse said, his hand going back to subconsciously scratch at his arm. “I have this bad feeling… like something’s bound to happen.”

            Edward didn’t answer, even though he felt the exact same way. He was too preoccupied with watching his brother scratch his skin in paranoia. He sometimes did this whenever he remembered what it was like to be inside the armor suit for so long. Edward understood why he did it. It was for the same reason he would sometimes sit there and hold his hand in a tight fist until he got carpal tunnel. The feeling, no matter whether it was a sensation of pain, a dull ache or a tickle, was an addictive reminder that they were back. They survived. Edward had his arm back and Alphonse had his body back. Yet, when Edward sometimes spotted the scabs on his arm, he got angry. Mostly at himself.

            Edward raised his hand and cracked his palm across the back of Alphonse’s hand, halting his paranoid tick. Alphonse let out a gasp of surprise and pain as he jerked his hand back. He looked at the red blotchy welt on the back of his hand.

            “What was that for?!”

            Edward only grinned. “Did ya feel that?”

            “Yeah I felt it!” Alphonse rubbed his hand, his voice taking on a “duh” tone.

            Edward put his hands on his hips and grinned wider. “Good!”

            Alphonse’s annoyed look dissipated into one of surprise, then understanding. Suddenly, he raised his own hand and slapped Edward’s right hand.

            “Ack!” Edward exclaimed and cradled his hand, looking at his brother in surprise.

            “Did ya feel that?” Alphonse mocked his brother with a smirk, then said, “I’ll stop scratching if you stop giving yourself nerve pains.”

            Edward gave a sort of pout, growling and rubbing his stinging hand. “Fair enough.” He turned and started heading back towards the trail that head to the Rockbell family house. “I’m heading back. Winry’s making breakfast, so bring over May in a bit.”

            “Sure,” Alphonse nodded. “Don’t miss Trisha too much.”

            “Shaddup!” Edward called back as he walked home with his hands in his pockets. After he was out of earshot, he sighed and said to himself, “Too late…”

 

\---

 

            On the train, Nina read as Trisha leaned her head on her hand, staring out the window. Suddenly, the sound of uneven footsteps broke through her daydream. She blinked and her head shot up. She looked towards the isle of the train. The man resonating the sound that was so familiar to her sat down in the seat across from her, on the other side of the isle. As he sat down, his pant legs hiked up a bit, revealing the shiny metal of an automail right leg. As she blinked, the image of her father’s false left leg and the sound if his uneven footsteps outside her bedroom at night appeared in her mind, behind the dark of her eyelids. That sound— _tak, **tonk** , tak, **tonk**_ —had always been comforting to her. Just like the scent of one’s parents or a soft blanket, as a child, that sound had always meant one thing to her: her hero, her father. Now, she wasn’t sure when the next time would be that she would hear that specific sound radiate from him as he snuck up behind her or walked into her bedroom to kiss her goodnight when he was sure she was already asleep.

            “Trisha? You okay?”

            Trisha looked up to see Nina’s concerned expression. She realized her eyes stung and she quickly reached up and dug her palms into her eyeballs. “Yeah.” She turned and crossed her arms on the window sill of the train, laying her head on her arms. “I think I’ll put rocks in one of my boots. Or get a steel toe put in one of them.”

            Immediately, Nina knew what she meant and only nodded. “Whatever you want, Sister.”

            Nina went back to her book and Trisha closed her eyes. Within a few seconds, she was asleep, dreaming of that uneven sound, of steel that smelled like oil, and of the brightest red she had ever seen. Redder than blood. Redder than the coat that was now hers.


	2. Teacher From Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trisha and Nina get to meet the woman who taught their fathers everything they know... but was the trip worth it? 
> 
> (Tis a very short chapter... Gomenasai...)

**_Teacher from Hell_ **

 

            “I don’t know about this, Sis,” Nina said wearily as she held a shaking Xiao Mei. “Papa told me she throws knives when she’s angry. Like, huge butcher knives.”

            Trisha gulped and wrung her hands together. “Y-yeah? Dad told me her husband has fists the size of boulders and eats nails for breakfast.”

            Nina’s eyes widened and she turned to Trisha with a terrified expression. “Th-that can’t be true! No one can eat nails! No one is big enough to have fists that big!”

            “Not true. Remember Mr. Armstrong?”

            “Oh… yeah…” Nina shuddered. “I hope this guy doesn’t take his shirt off like him.”

            Both girls sighed and stared at the quaint and peaceful house with a large front yard and a modest fence. The grass was green and lush with small patches of flowers. The house was normal enough, but both girls had been told enough bedtime stories about their fathers’ “teacher from hell” to fill the unknown inside of the house with hellish horrors. They had imagined everything from a bloody slaughterhouse to a sound proof house filled with torture devices. Given, the Elric brothers were notorious for exaggerating their stories, especially their training days, when telling them to their children.

            “Well, no use in standing here all day. Let’s go knock,” Trisha said as she walked forward down the path to the door.

            “You say that, but you’re shaking too,” Nina smiled humorlessly.

            “So are you!” she quipped back as she raised her hand to knock on the door.

            However, just as her knuckles came into contact with the wood door, the door swung open wide, and in the threshold stood a hulking figure, his eyes shadowed. Trisha’s midair fist shook and she let out small squealing sounds in fear. Her whole body shook. Behind her, Nina was in a similar state, Xiao Mei mimicking her.

            “G-g-g-g… g-good m-morning…” Trisha’s teeth chattered.

            The man grunted and reached down at Trisha. Both girls let out frightened squeals as he grabbed Trisha’s hood and hefted her up into the air, bringing her eye level to him. Trisha noticed his hair and beard were peppered with gray and his face had some wrinkles. But he was still huge and muscular and scary looking. The color drained from Trisha’s face and Nina had collapsed to the ground.

            “You look like Edward,” he said. Trisha blinked in shock. “You must be Trisha. You’ve grown.”

            Trisha blinked again. “You… you know me?”

            Sig Curtis nodded. “Izumi and I visited when you were born.” Sig placed Trisha back on her feet. He glanced at Nina. “You must be Nina. We visited you as well.”

            Trisha and Nina looked to each other then up at Sig. “Is she here? Izumi? We’re here to see her.”

            Sig turned to the side, and standing behind him was Izumi herself; considerable smaller in stature, but just as frightening. Her arms were crossed and in one hand was a blood covered knife. She glared down at the two girls.

            Nina and Trisha screamed and clung to each other. “Demon teacher!!!” They both screamed.

A vein popped in Izumi’s forehead and she flung the knife at them. It whizzed between their heads and sunk into the ground behind them. They both squeaked, tears budding in Nina’s eyes. Izumi clomped up to them in her slippers and apron, her expression that of a demon’s. She grabbed the girls’ heads and cracked them together, digging her knuckles into their temples. The girls cried out in protest.

“I don’t know what those foolish pupils of mine have been filling your heads with about me, but that doesn’t give you a right to call people names, _got it?!”_

“We’re sorry, we’re sorry, we’re sorry!”

Izumi stood up straight and crossed her arms again. “What are you two doing here? You’re by yourselves?” Izumi looked around and down the road. “I don’t see your fathers here.”

“It’s just us,” Trisha rubbed her temple. “We came to ask you to—“

“No.”

Their jaw’s dropped and Trisha protested, “You didn’t even let me finish!”

“I know what you’re asking, and the answer is no. I don’t take students.”

“You took in our dads!”

“That was different.”

“How so?!”

“That doesn’t matter.”

Trisha fumed and growled. “That doesn’t make any sense!” Izumi walked around her and picked up the knife in the ground. She tossed it over to Sig who nodded silently and took it into the house to clean it. “Why take them but not us!? They’re our dads! That counts for something!”

“Are you using your father’s status and recognition to your own advantage?” Izumi’s words were said plainly and evenly.

Trisha cringed and gritted her teeth. “N-no. I would never piggy back on his accomplishments. I’m my own person.”

“Are you?” Izumi tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. “You’re wearing his coat.”

Trisha growled and bared her teeth. “That doesn’t matter!”

“Doesn’t it?” Izumi turned it around.

Trisha’s face grew red in anger and she clenched her fists. In that moment, Nina stepped in front of Trisha. “My sister doesn’t ride on Uncle Ed’s tailcoats. She’s not that kind of person.” She stated boldly, without fear. “He’s her role model. She’s inspired by him. Nothing more.”

Izumi stared at Nina as she pondered the girl’s words.

“Nina…” Trisha said, looking at her cousin. “You don’t have to…”

Nina ignored her older cousin’s words. Suddenly, Izumi spoke up.

“What do you hope to accomplish by following in Ed’s footsteps? Surely you know where that path will lead you. Ed’s choices were not always good ones.”

“No one makes good choices all of the time,” Trisha said firmly. Izumi blinked at her words. “We all make bad choices. If we didn’t we wouldn’t learn anything. I’m going to make mistakes. I know that. But I’m not afraid of it either. I’ll take my mistakes as they come and learn from them.”

As Izumi stared down at the two girls, her mouth opened slightly in surprise and shock. She blinked and it was as if she were seeing her young pupils all over again. She sighed and placed a hand to her face.

“Dammit. Why is it always like this with those two?” She held up her finger. “One mo—“

“We already know what that means!” They shouted. Izumi once again blinked.

“Did you honestly think that our dads wouldn’t teach that to us?” Trisha grinned.

“They told us about the island,” Nina smiled. “That won’t work with us. We’re beyond that.”

Izumi suddenly broke out into laughter. “Cocky youngsters, aren’t you? Alright fine. Then in that case, as my students, I have an assignment for each of you.”

Trisha’s and Nina’s eyes lit up and they high fived each other.

“Nina, your assignment will be to go to my shop and find Mason. Tell him I sent you to help him out. He’ll tell you the rest.”

Nina blinked. “Um… okay?”

“And Trisha, I want you to take the train to Rush Valley and pick up an order for me.”

“What?!!” Trisha exclaimed. “You said you wanted us to do an assignment! Not errands!”

“Oh? Are my students not willing to do the work?” Izumi sneered. “That’s just too bad. I guess I’m wasting my time.”

The girls flinched. “No ma’am! We’re willing!”

“That’s ‘teacher’!”

“We’re willing, Teacher!”

Izumi smiled and moved forward closer to them. “That’s better.” She lifted them up and dusted them off with a warm smile. “Come on inside. Lunch is almost done. You’ll eat a good meal before you head off.”

Trisha and Nina grinned at each other and clenched their fists. “Yes, ma’am!”

“Teacher!”

“Yes, Teacher!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure how well I wrote for Izumi and Sig. It's been so long since I watched this show. Tell me what you think. (Also the formatting got messed up, and ten lines down I decided correcting it wasn't worth my time. However if it bugs some people, I'll fix it at a later time.)


	3. Older Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First born son Allan Elric makes his debut. He's about what you'd expect... or is he?
> 
> (To those of you who have read the Fanfiction.net version of this, I switched back and forth between "Allan" and "Allen" half because I couldn't decided and half cause I kept forgetting which one I used. All of that is fixed in this version. His official name spelling is "Allan.")

**_Older Brother_ **

 

Nina walked into the Curtis’ meat shop and stood next to the empty counter. She smoothed down her calf length powder blue skirt and straightened the long, fitting sleeves of her Xingese style top nervously. She looked around then noticed the bell sitting on the counter. Timidly she raised her hand to tap the bell.

“Hey! How ya doing!?”

“Yeek!” A startled Nina accidently slammed her hand down on the bell, which let out a deafening, sharp ring. “I’m sorry!”

Mason laughed, carrying two large bags of ice on his shoulders. “No problem! I guess I was a little loud. I was in the fridge. That thing gets loud when it runs. Guess I forgot my inside voice.” He set the bags down in front of a large cooler and opened it up. He sliced open the bags with a knife and poured the ice into the cooler. “You must be Nina. Mrs. Curtis called and told me you’d becoming by.”

Nina nodded, her hands resting on the counted as she watched him curiously. “Yes. She said she wanted me to help you with something.”

Mason grinned and turned to her. “You’ll be coming with me to pick out cattle from the ranches on the edge of town.”

She blinked. “Pick out cattle?” Her bottom lip quivered. “Y-you mean like… pick which ones will be slaughtered?”

“Oh! N-n-no! Don’t cry! I know it sounds terrible but…” Mason scratched the back of his head, unable to lie to her. It was hard for him as well at first. But he eventually realized that it was a necessary thing. He sighed and took off his gloves then washed his hands and the knives he was using. “Come on. The quicker we get it done, the easier it will be.”

“We’re not going to pick out any of the babies, are we?” She looked up at him worriedly.

Mason shook his head with a smile. “No, of course not.”

Nina nodded and attempted to smile, but couldn’t with the thought of picking out adorable animals who would be killed for meat. She sniffed and wiped her eyes. Mason patted her head, not knowing what else to do.

 

\---

           

Miles away in Rush Valley, Trisha groaned as she looked over the information Izumi gave her. Apparently, she had placed an order with one of the best blacksmiths in Rush Valley for some new knives and such. The problem was…

“Blacksmith in Rush Valley… You’ve got to be kidding me.” She growled and threw her arms up, yelling at the top of her lungs, “ _Everyone in Rush Valley is a blacksmith!!!!”_

            “Need some help?”

            Trisha blinked and turned around. Standing behind her was a tall dark skinned woman with brown hair and eyes. She wore a black tank top and camouflage cargo pants.

            “Um… Sure?” Trisha couldn’t stop staring at her. The woman was deathly familiar. But she couldn’t place where she had—“Oh! Paninya! You’re in our family picture!”

            Paninya laughed and gave a thumbs up with a wide grin. “Yup! I thought that was you, Trisha. You look just like Ed when I first met him. Same height too!”

            Trisha growled and clenched her fist. “Come again?”

            Paninya laughed again. “Yup, exactly the same.” She then pulled the piece of paper out of Trisha’s hand. “Oh! This place!”

            “You know where it is?!” Trisha said enthusiastically.

            She nodded. “Sure do! Come on!” Paninya broke out into mad dash.

            “Hey! Wait a minute! Slow down!”

            “Nope! You catch up, slow poke!” Paninya laughed as Trisha growled at her.

 

\---

 

            “Here it is!” Paninya pointed at the large, warehouse like building. The sign on the top of the building read: Jensen Bros Blacksmith and Automail.

            “Jensen?” Trisha pondered as they walked in. “That’s familiar too…”

            Paninya only grinned and cupped her hand to her mouth. “We got a visitor!”

            “Coming!” A male voice shouted from the back, behind the counter. A very familiar voice that Trisha recognized from just that one, two syllable word.

            “Oh… Oh no. I can’t be here,” Trisha perspired and backed up she immediately turned around ran for the door.

            And that’s when a wrench clocked her in the head for the umpteenth time that day. Trisha clutched the back of her head as she laid on the floor, kicking her legs in pain. When she rolled over, the muscular figure of her older brother, Allan, stood over her, wearing a red tank top and a grey jumpsuit. A red bandana was tied around his head, holding his golden blonde hair back. His piercing golden eyes bore into her blue ones. In one hand was another wrench (this one much bigger than the last one, however), and in the other was an unfinished automail leg. Trisha prayed that he wasn’t going to hit her with it. Getting “kicked” by a detached, half-finished automail leg sounded both lame and painful. In any case, Allan Elric was a carbon copy of their father from pointy antenna to steel toed boots. There were times when Trisha looked almost exactly like her mom, but Allan was always a mirror of their dad. He even smiled like him. There was only one difference.

            Allan lifted the wrench, glaring down at his younger sister, much to Trisha’s both relief and dismay. “I trust that, since you decided to make a run for it at the break of dawn, you at least called Mom when you got to Dublith safely?”

            Trisha winced and flinched.

            Allan may have looked exactly like Edward, but he had the personality of Winry. This frightened and amazed Trisha to no end.

            “ _Didn’t you?”_ His hand tightened around the wrench.

            “Um…” Trisha searched for words that wouldn’t lead to her getting smacked with steel. “C-can I borrow your phone?”

            The sound of Paninya laughing cut through the tension, dispelling it. “You two are so much like Ed and Winry, it’s hilarious.” Allan turned to look at the dark skinned woman. “Cut her some slack. A kid’s gotta have some adventures before they’re old and sour.”

            Allan sighed and turned to look back down at Trisha. Trisha’s face broke out into a wide, toothy grin that said, “Please don’t kill me.” Allan laughed and shook his head, yanking his sister up off the ground.

            “God you’re a pain.” He set the wrench on the counter, then clocked her over the head with his fist. “But you’re also an idiot for leaving Mom like that without talking to her about it first. What were you thinking?”

            Trisha rubbed her head and turned her gaze away. “I was thinking I didn’t want to stay in that house my whole life.”

            Allan shook his head and pulled her into a hug, setting his chin on her head. “I get that, but Mom worries. You know that.”

            Trisha pouted and wrinkled her nose. “You smell like oil and grease.”

            Allan growled and set the automail leg on top of her head, then dug his knuckles into her temples. “I believe the words you’re looking for are ‘I’m sorry, Big Brother, thank you for the hug, I love you too’.”

            “Ow ow ow ow! You didn’t say all that! And that was a shitty ass hug!”

            “It was only shitty because you didn’t hug me back and my hands were full!”

            “Only one was full, you Grease Monkey!”

            Paninya smiled and took the paper to the back to get the order while the two siblings squabbled. Allan sighed and took the leg off her head, setting it to the side. He crossed his arms over his broad chest.

            “What are you and Nina planning on doing after your training?”

            Rubbing her temples, once again Trisha averted her gaze. She didn’t answer. Allan tilted his head in an effort to see her face better. “Trisha?”

            “Allan?”

            He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

            “I didn’t want to stay in that house,” she repeated.

            “That’s not the only reason is it?”

            “Maybe, maybe not.”

            Allan groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine. Don’t tell me. Just be careful. If you’re planning on tracing Dad’s footsteps, don’t let it lead you somewhere you can’t get out of. None of us want you shipped back to Risembool in a casket, or worse.”

            Trisha rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to die, Allan. All that craziness Dad and Uncle Al talked about was dealt with in their generation. Amestris has been more peaceful than it ever had a chance to be.”

            Allan shook his head. “That doesn’t mean there aren’t bad people doing bad things out there.”

            “I know that. I’m not planning on finding trouble if that’s what you mean,” Trisha rolled her eyes.

            Allan quirked a half smile and nodded. “I know.”

            “Well, now, I finally get to meet the troublesome sister.”

The two of them turned to see an older man with black hair and grey eyes. He had a light beard and wore a bright smile. He was muscular and tall and wore a white t-shirt and white cargo pants. Tucked under his arm was a long, flat box.

“Mr. Jensen, this is my sister Trisha. Trisha, this is Sean Jensen, the older of the two Jensen brothers who own the shop. Sean is the blacksmith of the two.”

Trisha raised an eyebrow. “You’re a mechanic who wears white to work?”

Sean laughed heartily. “My younger brother Derrick says the same thing.” He pulled on his oil and grease stained shirt and pants. “I wear white that way people can see how hard I work.”

Trisha pursed her lips in thought then nodded. “Fair enough.”

Sean laughed again and slapped Allan on the back, causing him to grunt. “I like her already!” He hand the box to Trisha. “Here ya go, Munchkin. A whole set. Tell Izumi and Sig I said hey.”

“I am not a munchkin!” Trisha roared, only causing Sean to laugh even more. Allan shook his head. “Well, back to work. I’ll need your help in a bit, Allan.”

“Yes, sir,” Allan nodded. He turned to his sister as Sean disappeared into the back of the shop. “You be careful. And call Mom!”

“Yeah yeah.” Trisha stood there for a minute, contemplating before she set down the box, stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her brother’s torso. “I missed you.”

Allan smiled and hugged her back. “I missed you too. Remember to call me too, okay?”

“Yeah,” Trisha nodded.

“Say hi to Izumi for me.”

“Ugh. That woman is terrifying,” Trisha hefted up the box and walked to the door.

Allan laughed and nodded. “She sure is.”

“Bye, Munchkin!” Paninya quipped from the back, waving.

“Shut up!”

Allan snickered and turned to head towards the back. “Don’t antagonize her, Paninya.”

“But she’s adorable!”

“Of course she is,” he smiled narcissistically. “She’s my sister.”

 

\---

 

            At the dinner table in the Curtis residence, Trisha and Nina were quieter than rocks. Sig and Mason watched them concernedly, however Izumi at her meal peacefully, ignoring the tension radiating from the two girls. Trisha swirled her spoon around her stew, her head leaning on her hand. Nina traced the rim of her glass of milk with her index finger. Trisha looked agitated, Nina looked saddened.

            “How did your assignments go?” Izumi asked as if asking about the weather.

            “How do you think?” Trisha scoffed. “You sent me to see my brother. I got more lumps on my head than a bowl of sugar cubes.”

            Mason snorted a laugh, then covered it up with a cough as Izumi gave him a look of warning.

            “… I think I want to be a vegetarian…” Nina said quietly. “I don’t want to eat meat and wonder which cute animal’s remains I’m eating.”

            “We eat meat for nutrition, just like carnivorous animals eat the herbivores for nutrition. We need protein along with other vitamins to build strong bodies,” Izumi’s voice was calm.

            “A strong mind begins with a strong body,” Trisha recited.

            Izumi nodded. “Yes. Exactly. So Nina, do you know why I had you help Mason with the cattle picking?”

            “Because sometimes we have to do things we don’t like to survive. Animals die so that we can eat their meat and become strong and healthy. Then we raise more cattle so that we can eat again and stay healthy.” She sighed. “But if I’m not willing to kill an animal for nutrition… You wanted me to get used to the idea and the fact that we have to kill animals in order to eat and be healthy.”

            Once again, Izumi nodded. “One is all, all is one. We kill cows and pigs and such to eat their meat. Their meat becomes nutrition for our bodies and we use that nutrition and energy to raise the next generation of cattle. What dies becomes nutrition for something else and the energy produced from their bodies is used to do other things that another animal or human that ate the meat of the cattle would otherwise be unable to do without the nutrition it provides. Alchemy is the same. We use energy and materials; we break it down, then recreate it as something else. Whether better or worse is up to the alchemist. But all the same, energy flows in a cycle.”

            Trisha looked up at Izumi, raising an eyebrow. “And what was my lesson?”

            “You were supposed to learn to own up to your actions,” Izumi deadpanned.

            Trisha choked on her juice and glared at Izumi who ignored her. “You could have just made me call my mom!”

            “And then I’d have no knives to work with.”

            Her hand clenched around her spoon. “That’s… That’s messed up.”

            “The world is messed up. Now eat your stew. Replenish your calories. You’ll need them for tomorrow.”

            The two girls sat in silence a little longer before they both slowly started to eat, mopping up stew with bread and shoveling food into their mouths. Izumi smiled and watched them after finishing her own meal.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed writing this chapter, even though it was a bit of a pain and slow to finish. Next chapter, it starts getting good. *rubs hands together* Mwahahaha.
> 
> Also, I've been sitting on this for a while now and I think I finally have the voices for my characters down. In case anyone is curious, here's who I hear my characters as in my head:
> 
> Trisha Elric - Cherami Leigh (Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail)  
> Nina Elric - Luci Christian (Mitsukuni Haninozuka (Ouran Host Club); Kaname Chidori (Full Metal Panic); and many others)  
> Allan Elric - Johnny Yong Bosch (Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach); Izaya (Durarara!); Vash (Trigun); Lelouch vi Britannia (Code Geass))
> 
> Other names and VA matches will be revealed when the OC shows up in the story.


	4. Charity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trisha is a supportive good Samaritan. That and her father always said that death does tragic things to good people. And Trisha hates tragedy.

**_Charity_ **

 

            “See you at dinner, Mason!” Trisha called out as Mason locked up the front door of the shop.

            “Will do! Thanks Trisha! Careful walking home! It’s going to get dark soon!”

            “Sure, sure!”

            Trisha veered right at the next cross roads and stopped by her favorite outdoor café. They made the best fresh smoothies and squeezed juices. Her mother would kill her if she knew how much she drank their sugary, fruity, smooth drinks. They were addicting. It had been three months since they started their training. Every week, Izumi gave the girls each 1,500 Sen (A/N: About 1500 in Yen and $12 in US dollars) as an allowance in order to teach them to budget their money and spend wisely. And every day of the week, Trisha would buy her favorite drink: a pineapple slush drink with pineapple chunks. It cost her 248 Sen (A/N: About $2), which was just the right price to buy one each day for six days with some change left over at the end. And as a bonus, the stand had a stamp system. 6 stamps, and you got a free drink, which is how she got her drink for the 7th and final day of the week. The store owner loved her cause of all the business she got from Trisha. Izumi didn’t exactly approve of what Trisha spent her money on, however she couldn’t exactly berate her, as Trisha was doing exactly what Izumi wanted her to do: budget.

            “Thank you, Miss Sasha!” Trisha sang to the store owner as she poked her straw through the lid and sipped her ice cold drink.

            “Thank you, Trisha,” Sasha tucked her red hair behind her ear and waved to her. “See you tomorrow.”

            “Of course you will!” Trisha laughed.

            “Oh! Trisha! I forgot to tell you. We’re not doing so well, so well so we’re going to have to raise the price of some of our drinks since those are our lowest prices. Yours will be going up to 310 Sen (A/N: About $2.50).”

            Trisha choked on her drink, her eyes tearing up from the tartness of the pineapple juice. She clenched her head as her brain began to feel like someone dumped ice in her skull. ”What!? I don’t get enough of an allowance to buy one every day for six days at that price! I’d be cut down to four days and some change!”

            Sasha frowned, hanging her head. “I’m sorry, Trisha.”

            “Wait! Don’t change the price! I’m responsible with my money so I’ll ask Teacher for a raise then I can buy two drinks every day! And then I’ll be able to get two free ones on Sundays!”

            Sasha laughed lightly. “I don’t think that would help. Although knowing you it might.” Under her breath she added, “A raise? Do you work for Mrs. Curtis?”

            Trisha sighed and turned to head home. “I hate economics. It’s so unfair.”

            Her stop at the café made the walk back to the Curtis house a little longer than it would have if she just went straight home, but Trisha didn’t mind. The pineapple slush made it worth it. Every day, she walked down the road to the main street and turned, going further up until she came to the street the Curtis’ lived on. Also along the main road was a church. Usually it was quiet there. Sometimes there would be wedding or funeral services being held when Trisha passed by either on the way there or on the way back. Normally, she didn’t really pay attention, however today, a girl on the steps caught her eye.

            There was a funeral service. The attendees were all dressed in black, most of them crying. Six men carried a wooden casket down the steps of the church and carefully placed it in the back of the waiting hearse. Once the doors of the church and the hearse were closed, the attendees made their way to their cars and followed the hearse to the grave yard to bury the casket and the body inside. However, left behind was a young girl, about the same age as Trisha herself. She sat on the steps in her black dress and veiled hat and cried. She cried so hard and so loud it was hard not to look at her.

            Trisha had only been to a couple funerals back in Risembool. One of them being one of her friend’s father. The other was someone her parents knew from their childhood. Like this one, there were lots of tears. Trisha was too young and didn’t know the pain of losing a loved one, so there were no tears from her. She knew very well how her grandmother’s death affected her father and uncle, and she was lucky enough not to know that pain and suffering. However that also made her a bit insensitive. She felt guilty about her lack of sympathy for the victims of the deceased. And it was for that reason—or at least that’s what Trisha told herself—that she turned and walked up to the girl on the steps of the church.

            “Why didn’t you go with them?” Were the first words out of her mouth as she stood in front of her.

            The girl had long brown hair and green eyes. When she looked up, her pretty face was blotchy and red. Tear tracks stained her swollen cheeks. She wiped her face and responded with, “I-I didn’t w-want t-to see them p-put her in the g-ground.”

            Trisha nodded. And sat down next to her, sipping carefully on her slush drink. “Mom, dad, brother? Friend?”

            “Sister,” she snubbed. “She was all I had.” She began sobbing again.

            Again, Trisha nodded. She thought of Nina. Nina obviously wasn’t her real sister, but she was pretty damn close. Trisha didn’t know what she’d do if anything happened to her. Well, she knew what her father _wouldn’t_ want her to do. That was obvious. But if Nina died… She shuddered.

            “You… want to talk about it?”

            The girl looked back up at her suspiciously. “Why?”

            “Keeping it bottled up inside is bad for you. Grief can kill people in more ways than you can imagine.”

            The girl thought about it, then nodded. She took off her hat and set it between them. She smoothed her hair back and took a deep breath. “My name is Charity. My sister, Gloria, was an amazing alchemist. Our father taught her. He was a state alchemist who made it to the rank of Lieutenant. Our mother was an army nurse. They both died in the war against Drachma. After that, Gloria took care of us both. She used her alchemy to keep up a farm and orchard that we lived off of by growing our own food and selling what we couldn’t keep. Her fruit and vegetables were the best. They never went bad. Her crops never died once. She would even donate extra crops to help feed the soldiers, since our father served. She was amazing. She taught me her alchemy, but I’m nowhere a great as she was.

            “Almost a week ago in West City, she was taking some produce to a buyer who was interesting in buying the bulk of our crops each harvest. If the buyer liked the produced, he would have been our biggest consumer. She was crossing the tracks when a runaway train hit her. The train’s breaks snapped and it couldn’t stop. She was killed instantly. And to make it worse, the buyer saw it as bad luck and pulled out of the deal.”

            “I heard about that,” Trisha nodded. “A lot of people died that day. It was a disaster.” She turned to Charity. “I’m sorry.”

            Charity hiccupped then started crying once again. “I miss her so much! I don’t know what to do without her!”

            Trisha cautiously placed her hand on Charity’s back and rubbed in circles, not knowing what else to do. She gazed down at her feet as she entered deep into thought.

            This girl was an alchemist. And she had just lost her last surviving family member. Someone that meant the world to her. Someone who kept her on her feet. And she lost her in a freak accident during a meeting that would make or break their future.

            She was an alchemist.

            Her father had taught her enough and told her enough stories for Trisha to know that death and alchemy didn’t mix. Where there was death, and there were alchemists, there could also be attempts at alchemy’s biggest taboo: human transmutation.

            Trisha blinked and abruptly stood up. She recalled that today was Monday. She had just spent the first of her allowance on her usual drink. She looked down at said drink. She had exactly 1,252 Sen left. And right now this girl needed a distraction. She pulled the girl up to her feet and dragged her off in the opposite direction of the Curtis house.

            “Come on.”

            “Wha—Where are you taking me?!”

            “Shopping!” Charity blinked and Trisha turned and grinned at her. “My name is Trisha by the way. Trisha Elric!”

            Charity’s mouth fell open slightly, then she smiled lightly at her. “Thank you… Trisha.”

 

\---

 

            Trisha pushed the door to Dublith’s best bookstore open and the two girls walked in. True, this was Trisha’s idea of shopping. She didn’t care about clothes or shoes. She loved books. She could spend all day in a bookstore or a library.

            “Do you like to read, Charity?” Trisha asked.

            Charity nodded with a smile. “Yes. I love to. But I can’t always afford new books.”

            “Don’t worry. Today is on me. So pick out whatever you want.”

            “Are you sure?”

            “Of course!” Trisha beamed and dragged her over to the alchemy section. “I hope they have some good alchemy books.”

            “Me too. I want to get better at it so I can keep my sister’s farm and orchard the way it was when she…” Charity’s head fell and her shoulders shook.

            Trisha bit her lip and quickly looked over the shelf of books. Thankfully, her eyes just so happened to spot a book titled “Alchemy in Agriculture.” “Oh! Look! Here’s one!” She pulled the book off the shelf and put it in Charity’s hands.

            Charity wiped her eyes and looked down at the book. She studied it for a minute before opening the cover to a random page. Unfolded in front of her was a picture of a tree from leaves to roots, and being pushed through the roots were nutrients from the earth, kick started by alchemy. The adjacent page showed the circle and its runes that would activate this fertilizing transmutation. Charity smiled and ran her fingers over the picture of the tree, thinking of how she always watched her sister perform her alchemy to bring life to her crops.

            Trisha watched her in relief. She sighed happily and said, “You know what beats grief?” Charity looked up at her. “Good memories. If you remember all the good times you had with her, the grief can’t overtake you. Gloria lives on in you through your memory of her.”

            Charity nodded and smiled again.

            Trisha smiled back. “Let’s find some more!” She turned enthusiastically back to the shelf.

            “Okay,” Charity said with more pep this time.

            The two of them spent at least half an hour scanning the shelf of alchemy books. Next to them were a stack of ten books: three on agricultural alchemy, two on biological alchemy, two on intermediate alchemy and three on different ways to draw and use transmutation circles, as well as more advanced runes and circles. They were just about to pick the books they were going to buy and leave when Charity noticed a book that was different from the others.

            “Hey,” she picked it up off the shelf. It was small and leather bound. “Is this a journal?”

            Trisha put away the book she was looking at and turned to look. “Hey! It is!” Trisha took the book and flipped through it. It was handwritten in ink. There were notes and drawings all over it. The drawings were definitely alchemy related, however he words were describing something totally different.

            “Are these… song lyrics? Wow these are old songs. My parents used to listen to these,” Trisha scoffed. Then suddenly it hit her. “Oh wow! This is an alchemist’s research journal! The song lyrics are a code!”

            “Really?!” Charity leaned over and watched as Trisha slowly flipped through the journal. “What do you think the person was researching?”

            Trisha shook her head. “No idea. And we won’t ever know unless we crack the code.”

            “Let’s do it! Let’s buy it and crack the code!”

            “Yeah, that’s a tall order. Some alchemists use easy codes, but most alchemists have really hard ones,” Trisha laughed.

            “Are you good at cracking alchemists’ codes?” Charity looked up at her hopefully.

            “Well…. I wrote my first code when I was twelve.” Charity’s eyes bugged out of her head. Trisha laughed again. “But my dad cracked it within less than an hour. The good thing is, he then made one for me—a hard one, even for a skilled alchemist—and I cracked it by dinnertime.”

            “Then you can do it!?”

            “I guess I could. But I wouldn’t have much time to do it. I have training and assignments with Mrs. Curtis,” Trisha smiled sadly. “But I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you some pointers, and you can try and crack it by yourself. I’ll help you when you can. Consider it an alchemy lesson.”

            Charity smiled brightly and nodded. Trisha turned over the book to look at the price sticker on the back. “Ugh. That much for a freaking journal?”

            “It’s okay. I’ll put some of mine back,” Charity took the journal and one of the books she picked out and put the rest back. She hugged the journal and the book on agricultural alchemy to her chest with a smile.

            Trisha laughed and picked two of the books she picked out then stood up. “Alright. Let’s pay for them and get out of here. I’m sure Teacher is pissed because I’m not back yet. Dinner is probably already done.”

            “I’m sorry to cause you trouble,” Charity frowned.

            “No, it’s no trouble,” Trisha shook her head and placed her hand on Charity’s shoulder. “You needed some company.”

            “Thank you, Trisha,” Charity hugged her after their books were paid for.

            Hugging her back, she said, “No need to thank me. And if you need someone to talk to, I’ll be in Dublith for a while. And even after I leave, we can write each other and call.”

            Charity nodded as they stood outside the store. “Well, thank you again. And I’ll stop by tomorrow when you’re not busy. See you tomorrow!” Charity ran off towards home.

            Trisha waved with a smile, and as soon as she was out of sight, her smile drooped and her hand fell to her side. “I hope she’ll be okay…”

            Suddenly the female clerk from the bookstore opened the door and shouted out to her. “Miss Elric! Izumi Curtis just called! She wants you home right away! She sounded pretty mad! She said ‘If you’re not home in ten minutes you’re not getting any dinner!’”

            “Dammit! She’s making roast beef tonight! No way am I missing that!” Trisha booked it down the road towards the Curtis house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Charity's voice comes off as Brittney Karbowski in my head. Brittney Karbowski has done the voices of Black Star from Soul Eater, Wendy Marvell from Fairy Tail, Hitch from Attack On Titan, Yamada from B Gata H Kei (I will never get over that anime @@), and also Selim Bradley/Pride in FMA: Brotherhood. She's really a fantastic voice actor. 
> 
> Reviews are always welcomed! Constructive criticism only please. No flaming. Flaming makes everyone sad. :(


	5. Behind the Melodies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone with such a pure name couldn't possibly mean any harm, could they? The difference between destiny and fate is that one usually leads to more pain than the other.

**_Behind the Melodies_ **

 

            “Start with these,” Trisha slammed a stack of five books, all on music, songs and artists of the previous two decades down on the kitchen table Charity sat at.

            “All of them?” Charity blinked. “Why all these?”

            “You’re not going to find all the answers in one book. And you probably won’t even find all of them in just these five books. You’ll most likely need a whole lot more.”

            Charity gulped and Trisha giggled. “It’s okay. I’ll help when I can.” She sat down next to her and pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil. “What you want to do is read each part of the notes thoroughly, highlighting and writing down any key words and phrases or other things you find important. Coding mostly uses innuendos and symbolism. Things that have more than one meaning or can represent a certain meaning in the eyes of the alchemist. For example, if a line in one of these songs talks about a woman who is like the sun, who is priceless in every aspect, the alchemist who wrote this might have been referencing gold. Those are the kinds of things you want to look out for. If when you read it you think to yourself that it sound suspicious, it probably is.”

            With every tip and trick Trisha explained to Charity, she wrote it down on the pad in detail, giving examples and noting things an alchemist might do to throw off a reader. Charity listened intently, nodding and reading over Trisha’s notes. Over the course of twenty minutes, Trisha showed her how to pick out important words and phrases and match and research them using the books.

            “Now since these are song lyrics, they will probably need some translating and paraphrasing in order to fully understand them. Furthermore, the point of a code is that everything follows a template. When you code one thing a certain way in one place, you typically use the same or a similar template to code the same thing in a different place. Going back to the example of gold, if you use the symbolism of the woman at one time, when you speak of gold again, you’d typically use that same description as the code for gold.”

            “So if I decode one part of the research, whenever the code for that information comes up again, I should assume its talking about the same thing?”

            “Exactly,” Trisha nodded with a smile. “And that’s about all I can tell you for now.”

            “Did you learn all of this from your dad?”

            “Yup. He’s really awesome at coding. I’m better at decoding though. I don’t have the patience or creativity to make up a code good enough for an alchemist to use.”

            “What about when you start your own research?”

            Trisha laughed. “I have to have something to research first!” The girls laughed at Trisha’s indecisiveness. “I’ve already seen and heard of some awesome alchemy. I don’t know if I’d have anything to offer to the alchemic world worth researching and coding. Let alone writing a book about it.”

            “I’m sure you’ll figure something out eventually,” Charity smiled.

            “Yeah, maybe. I sure hope so. Otherwise I’d be a pretty lame alchemist.”

            “You’ll find your path with experience and time,” Izumi said as she walked into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and pulled out fresh lettuce and other vegetables, some fruits and thin sliced meat for sandwiches. “Salad and sandwiches for lunch? Charity, why don’t you stay and have something to eat.”

            “Thank you Mrs. Curtis.”

            Izumi nodded with a smile. “You’re welcome. And you’re welcome to visit any time. If you ever need anything, just ask.”

            “Sister~” Nina poked her head into the kitchen. “Come spar with me before lunch!”

            “Coming!” Trisha stood up from the table. She turned to Charity. “Good luck and have fun.”

            “I’ll try!”

            Trisha chased after Nina into the back yard. Nina wasted no time, halting just outside the door and swinging her leg back. Trisha leaned back just in time to dodge Nina’s kick. She straightened up and leaned to the side and caught the fist that came next.

            “Geez, Nina! You can’t even let me get out the door?”

            Nina smirked. “Nope~”

            Trisha grinned back, shaking her head. She put one of her feet forward and hooked her ankle around Nina’s tripping her. Trisha thrust her right palm down, but Nina rolled away and rolled to her feet. She kicked out with her left leg, whacking Trisha in the back, knocking her to her knees. Nina swung around with the opposite leg, Trisha stopping it before it connected with her chest, then flipping Nina onto the ground once more. Nina somersaulted backwards onto her feet once more and lunged forward with a right hook. Trisha dodged and countered with her own right hook. Nina grabbed her arm and twisted it around, turning it behind her back. Trisha’s back bowed backwards and she grunted in an effort to stay upright.

            “Hell no, you’re not kneeing me in the back again,” Trisha growled in determination.

            With a yell she threw her weight forward and flipped Nina over her head and slammed her on the ground for a third time. Air left Nina’s lungs with a whoosh and as she struggled for breath, Trisha flipped her over and pinned her to the ground, twisting her arm and firmly placing her knee into her back. Nina tried to kick her leg back into Trisha’s back but missed. She tried pushing her older and physically stronger cousin off her back but her efforts were in vain.

            “No fair!” Nina pouted.

            Trisha chuckled and let her go, helping her up. “You almost had me that time.”

            “Almost doesn’t count,” Nina rubbed her arm. “I’ll get you next time!”

            Trisha gave her cousin a wide smile. “Sure you will.”

            “Hey… Sis.” Nina gave her cousin a worried look. “Charity… Did you talk to her the other day because you thought she might…?”

            Trisha nodded slowly. “Yes that’s right.”

            Although the girls and Trisha’s brother knew full well what their fathers had attempted when they were young and what it took from them, they were told only that much. All they knew was that it didn’t work, it never worked, and it always left those who broke the taboo broken themselves. They didn’t know why it didn’t work or what went into trying to attempt that sort of thing. Those were things their fathers had kept from them. There was one time that Trisha found some of her father’s books on human alchemy, hidden on his bookshelves. He had freaked out and scolded her, telling her that she was to never touch them ever again. That, and the time he finally told her the truth behind his automail leg were the only two times they ever spoke about human alchemy. The last words he ever spoke about it were, “It doesn’t work, at least not in the way most people want it to.” To this day, she still didn’t know what he meant.

            There were very few things her father talked to her about, but when he did, he meant for it to be a lesson, and Trisha always listened.

            “She’s an alchemist. I couldn’t stand by and simply hope that something didn’t happen. Dad would be ashamed if I did. Our dads didn’t teach us that human transmutation should never be done for us to let someone else do it and figure out the consequences the hard way.”

            Nina nodded sternly in total agreement. “Definitely. I would have done the same.” She sighed and looked out towards the horizon, beyond the fields behind the house. “But… I’m getting one of those feelings.”

            “Like a ‘Dragon’s Pulse’ thing?”

            Nina shrugged. “Could be. Sometimes it gets all weird, say like if there’s a storm somewhere or something bad.”

            Trisha grunted and shrugged as well. “You were always much better at that than me. I only know the basics of alkahestry. Any deeper into Xing’s alchemic history and philosophies and it starts getting confusing.”

            “It’s not that hard.”

            “Says the girl who is half Xingese and spent three years there,” Trisha rolled her eyes.

            Suddenly the clouds in the sky grew dark and billowed around each other, casting the earth in shadows. A raindrop landed on Nina’s nose, and at the same time, a flash of lighting temporarily blinded them.

            “Uh oh…” Trisha looked up

            Five seconds later the sound of thunder cracked around them. The girls jumped with a squeak and bolted into the house.

            “Nice going, Nina! You just predicted the weather!” Trisha half joked.

            “It’s not my fault Mr. Dragon is upset!”

 

\---

 

_Two weeks later…_

It was late evening. Charity had holed herself up in the basement of the farmhouse, an oil lamp flickering on the desk next to her. Determined to finish decoding the journal, she had been down in the basement all day. She was so close. She only had maybe ten and a half pages left. Those last ten pages made her hands shake and sweat. On the edge of hyperventilation, her pencil scribbled furiously across the pad of paper, almost ripping through to the next page. Almost done, almost done. She repeated those words to herself over and over both aloud and in her mind. The journal’s secrets were so close to being completely revealed, the secrets that she needed. She needed this. She needed it more than she needed to breathe. Her eyes teared up as she started the second to last page. The thick salty drops rained down her cheeks, clouding her vision. She used one hand to wipe them away to see and continued writing.

            Finally she finished.

            The pencil fell from her hand and her back straightened in her chair. Wiping her eyes, she grabbed at her notes. Flipping through them, she drank in everything the code uncovered about the research of the alchemist who owned the journal. Her heart beat so hard it hurt to breathe. Cold sweat streamed down her neck and back. Reading everything she wrote and took notes on, she couldn’t believe what she was reading. Should she share this with Trisha? It was she who helped her reach this goal. With her guidance over the past two weeks, Charity was able to crack the code and gain this knowledge. It was only right to give her credit. And she could help her.

            Her eyes fell on the transmutation circles that were in the journal. She had copied them over and over until she perfected drawing them; perfect circles, legible and clear runes, every line in the perfect place. And now, those hours of decoding and practicing circles and runes and formulas would finally find a use. With this, she would be able to continue on with her life. With this she would be okay. No more mourning, no more crying herself to sleep, no more struggling to keep the crops alive and healthy. Everything would be easy and effortless as it was.

            Trisha could help her. Trisha was already a great alchemist for her age. With Trisha’s help, this would work, this would change everything for her. Maybe for them both. Without Trisha Elric, she never would have found the journal. Without Trisha Elric, she’d still be struggling.

            Trisha Elric…

            Blinking, that symbol crossed her mind. The black symbol on the back of that blood red jacket. The cross, the snake, the crown with wings. Such a symbol had been representative of one of the greatest alchemists in Amestris only about twenty years ago. His name had been all over the papers and academic journals. His story had spread like wildfire, sending a message that all who were involved hoped would get through to the people.

            No, she couldn’t. She couldn’t tell Trisha. Trisha couldn’t know.

            She couldn’t know…

 

\---

 

            A month had passed since Trisha bought Charity the journal. The heartbroken girl hadn’t been seen for a while. Nina began to worry, but Trisha wrote it off as another one of her “weather predictions.” Both Nina and Izumi had chastised her, saying not to write off someone’s intuition so easily. However, Trisha believed that Charity was just working hard at decoding the journal. She had watched that journal change Charity into someone with goals. Someone who was beginning to move on, or at least trying to. She believed in Charity. She believed that she had strength inside her. The strength to move on.

            Tonight was the first of the month--the beginning of the fifth month Trisha and Nina would spend training with Izumi--and it was raining. Trisha sat on the couch, her legs tucked under her, hugging a couch pillow, her chin digging into it as she stared out the living room window. Thunder cracked, lightning flashed, rain assaulted rooftops and streets. The last of the dirt roads had been paved over a while ago, so thankfully there would be no mud to trek through in the morning. But for now, the sky was dark and ominous. Just minutes before, Trisha could have sworn she saw a skull shape in the barely visible clouds. It chilled her spine to the point she shivered violently. At that moment, Nina had walked up to her and wrapped a thick quilt, hand sown by Izumi, around her shoulders. When Trisha turned, Nina had one wrapped around her as well. Two mugs of hot tea in her hands, she sat down next to Trisha, handing her one of the mugs. Trisha accepted it gladly, thanking her and blowing on it.

            “You really like storms, huh, Sis?” Nina smiled.

            “Normally…” Trisha said quietly, eyes still trained on the gaping darkness that seemed to swallow Dublith whole. “Tonight is… different. Tonight isn’t a good night for a storm. It feels… wrong.”

            A grin broke out on Nina’s lips. “Now who’s reading too much into the Dragon’s Pulse.”

            Trisha winced, tasting the bitter bite of her own medicine. “I hope you’re right.” She heard Nina hum and sip her tea. “Dad…” she said quietly, so quietly, Nina wasn’t sure if she heard her right.

            “Hm?”

            “Dad said that it was raining when it happened…”

            Nina froze mid sip. She watched Trisha carefully over the rim of her mug. Usually Trisha was bright, intense and full of life. Her golden and light blonde highlighted hair would flow out behind her like corn silk. Her blue eyes always swam like the river in Risembool. There would be times where she would look at her, and she would think that she couldn’t tell the difference between her blue eyes, and the blue sky behind her. Although short in stature, Trisha was slim but lean, with a modest bust and obvious hips. She always thought she was beautiful.

            Tonight, however, she looked scared. Her eyes were wide as they peered out the window. She drew her knees further up to her chest. Her feet fidgeted, her socks making a scuffing noise. Her lips stayed in contact with the rim of the mug and she inhaled the steam but didn’t drink. She just watched, intently, intensely in the most frightening way. She had seen storms drag Trisha’s mind away, pulling her consciousness away from her body and out to the storm outside. The expression she usually had at times like those was one of curiosity and intrigue. Tonight it was fearful.

            “… Trisha…?”

            “He said it was raining that night. He said the rain on the roof was so loud it sounded like gunshots. He said they could hear it even from the basement. The only light they had was from their oil lamps…”

            Nina swallowed hard around her tea, the liquid scalding her throat. She looked around the dark living room, illuminated dully by their oil lamps as the storm had knocked out their electricity. She shivered and turned back to Trisha as she continued to speak.

            “He said that when it started raining that night, he felt this terrible sense of dread, like the sky was screaming and crying at him not to do it. But he did it anyway. He couldn’t think of anything else but Grandma. And the closer they got to that moment, the louder the rain got.”

            As if in response to Trisha’s words, the rain pounded down harder and harder until it was like sledgehammers banging on the roof and the walls.

            A shaky breath left Nina’s lips. “Trisha please. What are you talking about? Do you mean…?” Nina’s eyes grew twice their normal size.

            “I still remember what he said to me and Allan before he told us to go to sleep. ‘Rainy nights never do anyone who’s grieving any good.’”

            Trisha handed Nina back the tea and threw the quilt off of her. Jumping off the couch, her numb legs walked her to the front door. On went her boots, laces pulled tight and double knotted. She threw on her red coat and grabbed the doorknob.

            “Trisha!” Izumi’s voice drowned out even the rain.

            Both girls turned to look at her. She wore a bathrobe and slippers. Her arms crossed, she bore a stern expression.

            Trisha swallowed hard. “I have to go. I think…” She couldn’t finish. Izumi’s expression softened then turned urgent as she uncrossed her arms. She nodded. Again, Trisha swallowed. Her voice cracked. “If I’m not back in an hour and a half, come and find me at the farm.”

            Pulling up her hood, she threw open the door and stepped out into the storm, shutting the door behind her.

 

\---

 

            “Charity!”

            Trisha slammed open the door to the farmhouse, mortified to find it unlocked. Again, she called for her.

            “Charity, are you here?!”

She walked through the pitch black house, a trail of mud and rainwater following behind her. Her clothes and hair stuck to her body her father’s red coat had done nothing against the storm, but Trisha didn’t care. Pushing water and soaked hair out of her face, she trudged through the house, pushing anything she bumped into out of her way. She stubbed toes and knocked shins and hissed over a bumped funny bone but she kept searching, ignoring the fact that she had only been inside the house a select few times, which didn’t help in the slightest.

            “Charity, if you’re in here please answer me!”

            A few more steps and she noticed an open door and the silhouette of a staircase. The small narrow hallway housing the staircase was illuminated by a dull, orange glow. Carefully but quickly, Trisha hiked down the steps, holding onto the handrail. When she reached the bottom, she found the medium sized basement lit up by five lanterns. The floor and the walls were covered in different transmutation circles. Not small ones, but large ones, complex ones. Ones that worried her. One of the five lamps sat on the table along the back wall which was covered with papers, pens and pencils. And in one corner of the room, there were trails of dirt, reminiscent of someone dragging something through the room then setting it down. The outline made by the soil was very familiar. Upon closer inspection, she noticed it looked like the shape of a casket. She rushed over to the desk and grabbed handfuls of the notes laying in a scattered mess. No more than ten seconds of looking over the notes and immediately the topic of the research was obvious. Dropping the papers, she turned, looking up the stairs.

            “Charity!”

            Back up the stairs she raced. She scoured the house as best she could in the dark. Then the lightning flashed outside and another building that sat on the farm was lit up for a brief moment through the window upstairs in the master bedroom. It was the storehouse. Trisha moved closer to the window and placed her hands on it, the cold seeping through the glass to her skin. Her nose was almost touching the glass. Faintly, she could make out the dull glow of a lantern. She choked on cold air and stumbled through the house down to the back door. Throwing it open, she ran, screaming through the storm.

            “Charity!! Don’t do it!!”

            Mud and water splashed underneath her boots. She felt her feet stomping and crushing crops which were probably already drowned in rain and mud anyway. Rainwater poured down her face, irritating her skin and getting in her eyes. Her chest was about to collapse from running so much, but she couldn’t stop. She continued to yell and call out Charity’s name. As words of discouragement left her mouth, disappearing in to the pouring rain, the sickening feeling of guilt and self-loathing filled her body from toes to the roots of her hair. Trisha was the one who took her into that bookstore. She was the one who bought her the journal and showed her how to decode it. She was the one who gave her help when she needed it, bringing her closer and closer to the very thing she tried to prevent.

            At last, she reached the storehouse doors and threw them open. Gardening tools swayed from their hooks and clanged together. Metal buckets rattled. Flower pots were blown from their shelves and smashed to the ground. And in the middle of the chaos stood Charity, surrounded by lanterns, standing in the middle of a white tarp with a giant transmutation circle drawn on it. And in the middle of the circle was a casket. No inspection was needed to know that it was Gloria’s decaying remains. Even if she didn’t look, she could smell the decomposition emanating from the wooden casket.

            Charity looked at Trisha with dead eyes, her hair, too, wet and sticking to her face. Her cracked lips parted. “Trisha… I did it. I cracked the code.”

            Trisha swallowed saliva past her parched throat. He stomach churned and rocked like a washing machine. Bile rose up her arid airways but she swallowed that down too. “Charity,” she rasped out. “You can’t do this.”

            Charity shook her head slowly, water dripping from her chin. “I knew you’d say that. You’re the Fullmetal Alchemist’s daughter after all.” Charity looked down at her sister’s casket. She knelt down and ran her hands over the top of the casket. “He failed, but I won’t.”

            “Yes!” Trisha shouted hoarsely. “Yes you will! Human transmutation doesn’t work! The dead are meant to stay dead! They don’t come back Charity! That’s just how it is, and you’re going to have to live with that!”

            “I won’t!” Charity yelled back. “I won’t live without Gloria! I don’t have to, and I refuse to!”

            Trisha took a step forward. “Listen to me! If you do this, all that you’ll come out of it with will be more heartbreak and suffering! This won’t help and it won’t make things better! It’ll make it worse!”

            “Did your father tell you that, Trisha?” Charity stood up, glaring at her with clenched fists. “Do you listen to everything your father tells you like a good little daughter? _At least you have your parents and your family! I have_ nothing!”

            “You do have something, Charity! You have me, and you have the farm! You have Gloria’s memory!”

            Charity shook her head once more and stepped backwards to the edge of the circle. “That’s not enough,” she said quietly.

            Charity dropped to her knees and placed her hands over the edge of the circle. There was a shift in the atmosphere and the circle flashed with dark purple light. Nails popped off of the casket lid and the top floated off. The decayed body floated out as well, its rotted skin shifting and morphing.

            “Stooop!!!!” Trisha yelled, but Charity was beyond listening.

            She raced up to the tarp and tried to rip it enough to destroy the circle, but her hands were wet and it was too tough. There wasn’t enough time. Trisha looked down at her hands. Clapping them for good luck, as she always did when she was young and saw her father doing it out of habit, she placed her hands to the circle as well. With a shout, she channeled everything she had into the circle, praying that she could reverse what Charity had started.

            And in the middle of the purple casted circle, an eye, as large as the circle itself, opened up from a black void.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I know you guys probably want to see more of Nina. Within the next chapter or two, there will be a small part for Nina, however with this part and the next part, I'll be focusing on Trisha. But don't worry! Nina will definitely have her chance. I've got things planned for her as well.


	6. Reap What You Sow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.”   
>  ― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish

**_Reap What You Sow_ **

 

            When Trisha opened her eyes, she was laying on her back, staring at a white void. There was nothing. Just endless whiteness. At first she thought something was wrong with her eyes. She raised her hands and rubbed her palms into her eyes. She blinked, but it was still there. Groaning, she sat up.

            “Damn. What the hell,” she rubbed the back of her head.

            Suddenly, she saw a slab of gunmetal gray. When she looked up, she found a door—enormous with no handles, floating in the white expanse of space. Covering it were engravings. There was a tree, upside down with its roots at the top and fern like branches at the bottom. Covering the tree were circles with rune and writing in an ancient language. Converging towards the roots of the tree were alchemic marks that were usually left behind during a transmutation. Upon seeing this door, Trisha was reminded of what happened just minutes ago.

            “The Gate…” Trisha whispered to herself. Her hands shook.

            “Trisha?” Came a frightened voice behind her.

            Trisha slowly turned to see Charity standing in front of her own door. She shot up from what she assumed was the ground (as there were no lines to distinguish walls, floors or ceilings). Charity met her half way as they ran towards each other.

            “Trisha! What is this?! Where are we?!” Charity grabbed at her, her eyes distressed.

            “We’re inside the Gate,” Trisha tried to remain calm as she steadied Charity by her arms. “And if we’re inside the Gate then that means—“

            “Welcome!”

The sound of two hoarse voices that were neither male nor female sounded behind them. Each of them turned to look behind them. Seemingly etched into the white void was the silhouette of a human figure with a grinning, toothy mouth and nothing else.

“We’ve been waiting,” they spoke again. “Are you ready?”

“Waiting? For what?! Ready for what?!!” Charity’s voice grew higher and more distressed. “Trisha, what’s going on?!”

“I don’t kno—“

Before Trisha could finish, both of their doors opened and out shot long black tentacle like arms with small hands. They raced towards the girls and snatched them up. Charity screamed, reaching for Trisha as they dragged her back. Trisha fought against them, trying effortlessly to dig her feet and heels into the “ground.” Still, Charity screamed for her. Both of them tried ripping the arms off, but their efforts were in vain.

“Relax,” the two figures sneered. “It’ll be easier if you don’t fight it.”

“Trisha!!!” Charity screamed before she was sucked into the door and the door started closing.

“Charity! Give her back you bastards!” Trisha yelled at the top of her lungs, pulling against the sides of the door. “Let me GO!”

The harder she tried to get free, the harder the arms pulled until her own arms gave out and they pulled her in. The door closed and this time Trisha was surrounded by darkness. Even inside the Gate, she fought against her “bindings,” however they held her fast. She felt the arms slither across and around her body like snakes. They curled up her neck and attached to her cheeks and head.

“Let me go! Get off of me! Let me out!”

As Trisha fought and cursed, she suddenly saw a flash of images in her mind. One of the images she caught looked like formulas. Chemistry formulas. Another looked like alchemic runes and circles. Complex circles and formulas—things she would never had thought up in a hundred years. As she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the images and the budding headache, she heard her father’s voice.

_“Daddy? How come you could do alchemy without a circle?” Her younger self asked. “And Uncle Al too! He can do it too!”_

_Her father smiled down at her and lifted her up into his lap. “That’s because I know things other’s don’t. I myself are the runes that decorate a circle.” He put his hands together in a clapping motion. “And when I do this, it makes a circle. Which means that I am the circle and the runes that makes alchemy possible.”_

_“So you’re so smart that you don’t need one?” The young Trisha tilted her head. “How did you get so smart?”_

_Edward smiled tightly, tucking her hair behind her ear. He rubbed noses with her playfully. “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”_

And that he had. And what he told her gave her headaches just thinking about it. All that information shoved into the human brain at break neck speeds. Like a hundred cram sessions back to back. She shuddered.

“No! NO! I DON’T WANT IT! LET ME OUT! I DON’T WANT IT!”

“You don’t have a choice anymore,” the voice hissed. “You activated the circle. This was your choice.”

“I did it to help her! I was trying to reverse it!”

There were no more words from the voice. Instead, there was a surge of pain in Trisha’s skull and a flash of images. She screamed, her eyes watering, her head feeling like a hot air balloon that was being filled with too much air. She begged for it to stop, tears streaming from her eyes. Again, she tried to rip the arms off of her. It only lasted a handful of seconds, but in Trisha’s mind it was a lifetime. When it was over, the Gate spat both her and Charity back out. The two of them laid lifeless next to each other.

“So? What did you think? Was it worth it?”

“You… you bastard!” Trisha said hoarsely.

“Who… who are you?” Charity whimpered.

The figures grinned madly. “I am God. I am the world. I am the universe. I am one. I am all. I am Truth. But most importantly.” They pointed at them. “I am YOU.”

Charity stared at them in horror. Trisha gave a strangled growl and slammed her fist on the ground.

“And now it’s time for the two of you to pay the toll.”

Trisha’s head snapped up, eyes wide.

“Toll?” Charity questioned.

“I’ll take it!” Trisha jumped up. She turned to Truth. “I’ll take all of it! Mine and Charity’s! Take all you want from me!”

“It doesn’t work that way. You both activated the circle. You both pay the price. You don’t get to choose your punishment,” Truth said emotionlessly.

“I was trying to stop it!”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Truth repeated. “You both will pay the toll.”

Beside her, Charity screamed. Trisha looked over to see her collapse to the ground. Bit by bit, both of her legs unraveled and disappeared like pieces of DNA on a double helix.

“Trisha, help me!” Charity screamed, reaching out to her.

Trisha reached out to her with her right arm, but just before their fingertips met, Trisha’s arm started to unravel as well. Horrified, she looked at her hand. She looked over to the two Truths. The one on the right grinned as Charity’s legs were transferred over to the space where its “legs” were. The one on the left held a similar expression as Trisha’s right arm replaced his.

“Why…?” Trisha’s voice wavered.

“You wanted to be so much like your father,” Truth sneered. “Now you’ll suffer the same fate as he did. At least part of it. This is the price you pay for meddling in affairs you have no business in.”

As Trisha looked to her disappearing arm (now gone up to the elbow), tears streamed from her eyes and she blacked out.

 

\---

 

            This time Trisha woke up to darkness, blood and screaming. Both her own and Charity’s She couldn’t see Charity, but she knew she was in a horrid state. At first, Trisha screamed at the terrifying scene of lying in a pool of her own blood, her arm gone from the shoulder down. Her empty sleeve was soaked. It was the sight of this that made her aware of the excruciating pain she was feeling. Then she screamed louder, digging her heels into the dirt ground. She clutched the gaping wound that was her arm, then screamed again and let go as the soiled cloth of her father’s coat touched muscle, bone and nerve endings. She didn’t know how long she screamed or how long she laid face down in the bloody dirt. Eventually, she ran out of energy to scream and cry. Charity however was too overcome with pain and probably raw guilt and regret to stop screaming. Somehow, Charity screaming bloody murder cleared her mind. Suddenly, Trisha felt the daggers she used for her purification arts on the inside of her coat.

            She pulled them out, groaning and whimpering every time she moved. She pulled out five, then pushed the tip of one of them into the bloody dirt. She drew a circle with a star in the middle and stuck the daggers in each point of the star. She shifted over, careful not to disturb the circle, and laid her bloody stump in the middle. She placed her fingertips on the edge of the circle and activated it. Blue sparks flew and she felt the veins and arteries in her arm close up. As soon as she was finished, she had to force herself not to pass out.

            Carefully, she shifted to a half sitting position, taking her daggers with her, turning so she could see Charity on the other side of the storehouse. However, as she looked towards her, she spotted the deformed corpse of Gloria’s transmuted body wheezing and coughing up blood. Its bones and insides rippled underneath its rotted, paper thin skin. It made a sickening gurgling sound then all of a sudden started moving. Trisha whimpered, curling up into a fetal position and sobbed, hiding her face in her arm. She willed herself to get up. She had to get to Charity before she bled to death. Still sobbing, she crawled over to her, struggling not to look at the thing they had transmuted.

            “Charity,” she said weakly. “Charity listen to me. You have to calm down before you use your energy up.”

            “T-T-Trisha,” Charity slurred and sobbed. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

            “Don’t talk,” Trisha struggled to draw a circle with her shaking hands.

            “Gloria… Gloria.”

            “She… She’s not there.”

            “My sister…” she went on as if she didn’t hear her. “Where’s my sister?”

            “She’s not there, Charity!”

            “I have to see her,” Charity struggled to sit up.

            “Don’t look at it!”

            However it was too late. The instant Charity spotted the deformed body, she screamed for all of two seconds and passed out cold. Trisha reluctantly admitted that it was easier this way, not having Charity struggle. She finished the circle, placed the daggers and activated the circle, stopping the bleeding in Charity’s legs. When she was finished, she crawled up next to her and collapsed.

            Her father entered her mind and she started crying again. “Daddy… I’m sorry… I couldn’t…”

            Trisha’s body went limp as she slipped back into darkness, the storm still howling around them.

 

\---

 

            The phone rang in the former Rockbell, now Elric, house. Edward and Alphonse sat at the kitchen table. Alphonse was working on a new way to fuse the purification arts with Amestrian alchemy. He had thought of the idea before, but between traveling years ago then marrying May and then having Nina, he never had the time to put it into action. Edward was looking over his notes as Winry shoved an apple pie in the oven and went to answer the phone.      “Hello?”

            “Mom…” Allan’s voice almost whispered from the other side.

            “Oh, hey Honey. How are you? Have you heard from Trisha?”

            At the table, Edward shook his head as he read over his brother’s notes. “I’m not sure. You know way more about alkahestry than I do. I mean, it could be possible to use the Dragon’s Pulse to influence plate tectonics. After all, we’ve seen what it can do from watching Ling, May, Lan Fan and Foo. It’s pretty incredible.”

            Alphonse nodded. “I studied it a lot in Xing, but I only learned how to use it in terms of the purification arts and sensing chi and things like that. But May told me that there are some people in Xing that can use the Dragon’s Pulse without the purification arts.”

            “Could be worth looking into,” Edward scratched his chin.

            Behind them there was a loud thud and the sound of the phone crashing to the floor. The brothers’ heads snapped over to see Winry laying on the floor, the phone beside her.

            “Winry!” The brothers shot up from their seats and ran over to her. Alphonse picked up the phone while Edward pulled Winry into his lap. He checked her pulse, sighing in relief to find that she had only passed out.

“Winry!” Edward patted her cheek. “Winry!”

“Brother….”

Edward looked over his younger brother. Alphonse had the earpiece to his ear, his face pale. “What’s wrong?”

“Allan… He said… Trisha… She…” Edwards blood went cold as Alphonse’s hand clenched the phone. He placed it back on the mount. He bit his lip, shaking his head. “We have to go to Dublith…”

One look in Alphonse’s eyes and Edward felt sick.

 

\---

 

            The first thing that registered in Trisha’s mind five days later was the low hum of voices. Her head tossed, trying to be rid of the annoying noises. She was exhausted. All she wanted to do was sleep into next year. Suddenly the voices got louder, and she thought she heard her name being called.

            “Trisha?”

            She opened her eyes and looked over to see Nina sitting in a chair next to her. She was holding her hand, tear tracks staining her cheeks. Also surrounding her bed was her parents, her uncle and her brother. Wondering why they were surrounding her, her mother quietly crying, she tried raising her arm to brush her hair out of her face, only to find nothing there.

            It came back to her in a flash. She panicked. Her breath came in short, gasping screams. She thrashed under the covers. Nina jumped back and Edward and Allan rushed forward to hold her down until she calmed down.

            “Trish! Trisha calm down!” Allan said, holding her legs to keep them from kicking.

            “Trisha, look at me!” Edward said over her screaming, holding her arm above her head and keeping a firm hand on her stomach. It pained him terribly to have to do this, to see his precious daughter like this. “Look at me!”

            Trisha’s eyes met her father’s and gradually she calmed down. She stilled, her chest heaving. Allan let go of her leg and went to his mother, who had broken out into sobs. He hugged her tightly. Edward kept eye contact with his daughter. He raised his hand up to her cheek. She snubbed and silent tears trailed out of her eyes and into her hairline. He shushed her, smoothing her hair back and wiping her tears.

            “I tried…” Trisha choked up. “Charity. I tried to stop her. I tried. I wanted to help her but she…”

            “Shhh. I know. It’s not your fault,” Edward assured her, releasing her hand and sitting down next to her. He held her hand instead.

            Trisha nodded furiously, tears still flowing. “Yes it is. I took her to the bookstore. I bought her that journal, and I helped her decode it. I put the one thing I was trying to prevent right into her hands!”

            Edward shook his head. “You couldn’t have possibly known that journal was filled with research on human alchemy. There’s no possible way you would have known that. And there’s no way Charity would have told anyone either.”

            “But I FAILED!” Trisha screamed, her hand going to her face as she sobbed. “I tried to stop it and I FAILED!”

            Edward pulled her hand away and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “No one ever really succeeds in human alchemy. It always takes something from you. No matter what. Even if it doesn’t take something physical from you. It either drains your spirit, your soul or your mind.”

            Trisha tried to pull herself up. Edward helped her to a sitting position, and Nina circled around to the other side of her. Allan still stood towards the foot of the bed with Winry, rubbing his mother’s back. Trisha spotted a large case with a shoulder strap standing against the wall.

            “What’s in the case?” Trisha asked in a tired voice.

            Allan set Winry down at the foot of the bed and went to pick up the case. He opened the case to present the contents to Trisha. It was an automail arm. Glossy and new with a slim and sleek design to fit Trisha’s body. The fingers where exactly the length of Trisha’s flesh and blood arm. Surrounding the arm in their own slots were several sets of wires, metal plates, and other necessities for attaching the arm to Trisha’s body.

            “Mom and I are prepared to perform the surgery here in Izumi’s home. You won’t even have to go to the hospital or see a doctor or even go back home. We can do it right here in this bed even.” Although Allan’s words were confident in meaning, the tone in which they were said were regretful. The last thing he wanted to do was outfit his own baby sister with automail.

            Trisha stared at the arm. She looked up at her brother. His golden eyes were pained. “You made it yourself? Design and everything?”

            Allan nodded and closed the case, setting it down. “Yeah. Start to finish. Carbon based, light weight yet still durable and strong as hell. It’s probably my masterpiece.” His voice still wasn’t proud.

            “How long did it take?”

            Allan quirked a smile and laughed. “Two days. I stayed in Rush Valley while Mom and Dad came here. Mom took your measurements and phoned them to me. The moment I got the call from her I set to work. I barely stopped to eat or sleep.”

            “He didn’t sleep until he was here. The moment he came here and saw you he passed out on the bed next to you,” Winry said in a thick voice, wiping her eyes and nose with a tissue. “He almost made himself sick.”

            Trisha nodded sternly then looked up at her brother once more. The emptiness in her eyes was gone, replaced by fire and pride. “I’d be stupid not to take it. You worked your ass off to make it for me. I’m not going to just throw it away like a piece of trash, because it’s anything but trash. Nothing you make is trash. I wouldn’t trust anyone else as my mechanic.”

            Allan’s eyes went wide before he lowered his head to hide his wide smile. From anyone else, that comment would have had a watered down feeling. But from Trisha, it meant so much more to him.

            “Trisha,” Winry said painfully. “Please just come home. You don’t have to do this… whatever it is you’re trying to do. It can’t be worth it.”

            Trisha shook her head. “I can’t. This changes nothing. In fact, this makes it even better. It’ll help me in ways nothing else could.” She turned to her brother for a third time. “Do it. Perform the surgery. If Dad could do it in a year and Lan Fan could do it in six—“

            “You’re not going any less than six!” Edward declared. “Lan Fan was still in pain at six months. There’s no way in hell you’re going less than that.”

            “Then I’ll do it in eight,” Trisha resolved. However, as she thought about the automail, Charity came to mind. “What about Charity?”

            “She’s in a coma,” Nina hung her head. “She still hasn’t woken up.”

            “I can make automail for her. But it’s up to her if she wants it or not,” Allan crossed his arms.

            Trisha nodded in understanding. “She’s got to make her own decisions.”

            Allan sighed and walked up to his sister’s bedside. Leaning over, he smoothed her hair back and kissed her forehead, then hugged her tight. “Rest. You need sleep if you’re going to have surgery soon. Then when you wake up you can eat, let your stomach digest, then when you’re ready we’ll go through with it. Mom and I will make preparations.”

            Allan hefted the case up onto his shoulder and left the room quietly. Trisha turned to her mother.

            “Make sure he gets some sleep too.”

            Winry nodded and moved to kiss her as well. “Don’t push yourself. Take your time.”

            Trisha nodded. She received more hugs and kissed from her dad and uncle before they and her mother left as well, leaving Nina with her.

            “I’m staying here,” Nina said sternly.

            Trisha smiled. “Good.”

            Nina helped her down then settled down beside her. With Nina beside her, soon Trisha was fast asleep. To her surprise, there were no nightmares. There was no doubt in her mind that Nina was the one chasing them away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot Alphonse in that last part. T^T I apologize to the Al fans (and to Maxey Whitehead and Aaron Dismuke).


	7. Move Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Stand up and walk. Keep moving forward. You've got two good legs. So get up and use them. You're strong enough to make your own path."
> 
> Sometimes the words Trisha has heard so many times just don't work the way she expects them to...

**_Move Forward_ **

 

            The pain was unimaginable. Unfathomable. Trisha would have rather go through the gate again than stomach this pain. But she knew it was already too late; she had made her decision. Even so—despite the blood-chilling pain that made her puke her guts all over the floor only five seconds after the procedure started and dry heave the rest of the time—she didn’t regret the decision. While Allan scraped away whatever dead, unsalvageable flesh littered her stump of a shoulder, her mother held her hand and kissed her sweat soaked forehead, tears budding in her eyes. Hours of surgery with minimal anesthetic and pain that scrambled and numbed even the most brilliant of brains later, the worst of it was final over. All nerve endings had been connected, but still her body ached and an icy chill radiated through her insides. Trisha had laughed when Allan told her to get some sleep, to which he responded—very generously—with two syringes: one with a healthy dose of morphine and the other with a sleep aid. Winry tossed blanked after blanket over her, careful of her sensitive wound, and within the hour Trisha was passed out.

            That was two weeks ago.

            Today, Trisha sat in a chair in the room Izumi had filled with weights and exercise equipment. A ten pound dumbbell in her metal right hand, Allan coached her though reps of different exercises. Each one made the gears and metal parts in her automail arm grind and clank. A few days ago, the smell of oil that radiated from her “arm” made her sick to her stomach, but now that she was used to it and the pain wasn’t as severe as it had been, she noticed it reminded her of her brother. Suddenly, she found the smell endearing.

            “Alright, that’s good for today. Let’s not overdo it,” Allan said as she finished her set of curls.

He watched her as she immediately dropped the weight, and her flesh and bone hand shot up to the spot where her metal shoulder connected with the flesh of her neck. Sweat rolled down her face and neck. Very faintly, he could see the metal of her artificial fingers twitch and shake. Her breath left her mouth through clenched teeth, her eyes squeezed shut.

“Are you okay?”

Trisha groaned and slid to the floor, laying on her back so it wouldn’t feel like her false arm was pulling down on her nerves like they attached Izumi’s dumbbells to her body instead of a metal arm.

“Automail should be illegal,” Trisha said hoarsely.

“Just think, when Dad was your age, automail was twice as heavy. At least, until Mom made a model that was lighter. And even then, lighter meant less durable,” Allan grinned, crossing his arms. “You’re lucky that Mom and I figured out a way to make a lighter model that’s durable enough to stand up to older models.”

“Yeah yeah,” she scoffed, then grunted, “Grease Monkey Genius.”

Allan threw the towel he was holding down at her face, but Trisha only moaned at the cool fabric that had been soaked in cold water. She wiped her face with it then moved it around her neck. Suddenly the door leading to the hallway creaked open. Even with her eyes closed, Trisha could tell who it was. Uneven footsteps almost always equaled her father. His voice validated her hypothesis.

“Trisha.” She opened her eyes looked up at him, standing by the door. She couldn’t read his expression. That was bad. “Charity is awake.”

Eyes snapped wide, Trisha turned to look at her brother, holding her good hand out to him. “Pull me up!”

Allan wasted no time in doing so, then helped her put on her sling. Off she ran out the door and down the hall to Charity’s room. She slammed the door open, the doorknob bouncing against the adjacent wall and moving back again. Charity sat upright in bed. Her eyes rimmed with dark circles. She looked ten pounds skinnier. Her hair fell around bony cheeks. Her thighs were visible as humps in the blanket covering her, but further down, the blanket dropped off like the side of a cliff. The rest of the blanket laid flat against the mattress. Charity ignored the slamming of the door until Trisha stomped up to the side of her bed, glaring down at her. Her head slowly shifted up and over, looking up at Trisha with hollow eyes.

Suddenly she smiled. It was a dead, meaningless sort of smile. “Trisha. You’re okay. I’m glad.” Her voice was rough and small. Insignificant. Charity’s eyes fell on Trisha’s automail arm. “Your arm?” Her eyes shifted to her other arm. “Just the right one?” Now they looked down at her absent legs. “I see. You were the lucky one.”

Trisha grinded her teeth, baring them at Charity. She grabbed her by her nightgown and pulled her so she was looking up at her. “I’m the lucky one?! _I’m_ lucky?! What did you do?! You’re not the one who saved us! You’re the one who activated the circle, regardless of all the times I told you to stop! You ignored me! You cast my words aside and did it anyway! Given, I was the one who stupidly thought I could stop it once it was started, but if not for your _godly_ level of stupidity, neither of us would be here! You lost both of your legs! You were miles away from everyone else in the city, by yourself, at night, during a storm! If not for me—if I hadn’t have come looking for your ass—you’d be _dead_! If I hadn’t told Izumi to come looking for me if I wasn’t back in an hour, _both of us_ would be dead! So tell me, _who’s the lucky one_?!”

Charity’s head fell down as Trisha finished her yelling spat. “I…. I’m sorry… I thought I could…”

Trisha growled and pushed her back down onto the bed. “You thought you could what? Succeed at something that no one in the entire freaking world could accomplish? Something that not even the most genius minds and prodigy alchemists could do? Don’t make me laugh! You knew that not even my father could do it! And you did it anyway!”

“I know, and I know that now,” Charity put her hands to her face. She was silent for a while when suddenly she lowered her hands. Her eyes were no longer hollow. Instead they were pondering, thinking, trying to fit pieces of some invisible puzzle together. “But… we have this knowledge now. Maybe it can be fixed?” She turned to Trisha, beaming up at her with a look of glee that Trisha thought looked a lot more like insanity. She grabbed the bottom of Trisha’s shirt. “I can fix it! I can make us normal again!”

Trisha clicked her tongue at her, pushing her hands off. Her father and uncle came to mind, but she knew what their goal had cost them. “And how the hell do you plan on ‘fixing’ it?”

“Well…” The gears in Charity’s head starting turning again. “I suppose it could work like a skin graft. You know, for burn victims. Or like a transplant. Yeah! A transplant!”

The hopeful and bright look on Charity’s face made Trisha sick to her stomach. Even more so than the pain in her shoulder. She knew what Charity meant. And the thought of it--the image of it, of them wearing someone else’s limbs—repulsed her.

“You…” Trisha slipped her arm out of its sling and clenched her fist, ignoring the pain. “You make me sick!”

She socked Charity across the cheek with her closed metal fist. It wasn’t a full blow, given how limited her usage of it was, but it still left a welt and the beginnings of a bruise on her cheek. Charity clutched her cheek, and Trisha grinded her teeth and grabbed her shoulder.

“You would use… someone else’s body… to fix your own mistake!?” She panted as the pain took her breath away. “That’s despicable! There’s not even a word to describe how pathetic and depraved that is! Even if it did work, I would _never_ walk around wearing someone else’s arm on my body! Giving someone a skin graft cause they were burned or a liver or a heart or a kidney so they can live is not the same as giving someone an arm! That’s why we have automail!”

“But your father and your uncle--!”

Trisha punched her again. This time on her other cheek and with her flesh and blood hand. “And do you have any idea what they sacrificed—all the shit they put themselves through—to achieve that?! And in the end my father still has an automail leg! My father didn’t do it for himself! He did it for my uncle! You think it’s so terrible to lose both your legs? My uncle lived in a suit of armor for over _five years_! He couldn’t eat, sleep or feel anything! Is that what you wanted?! Cause you’re _damn lucky_ that’s not what happened when you activated that circle!”

The look Charity gave Trisha as she took in her words was horrified. For a split second, hope that maybe she finally got it overshadowed Trisha’s anger before it took over her again. “My father bled, sweated and suffered over the consequences as a result of human transmutation. He could have _died_ and my uncle would have been stuck inside that armor, and I never would have existed and neither would Nina!”

Tears streamed down her face as she thought about all the possible outcomes of what her father and uncle had done. “Nina and me, you, and this whole country—none of it would be here if not for them! And you think I’m going to disgrace their efforts by attaching someone’s limb to my body!?”

“But… but what do I do?”

Trisha wiped her eyes and recited what she had heard her father say numerous times. “Move forward. Keep walking. Don’t stop. You have to move past this in whatever way you can. A way that’s healthy. That’s the only thing you can do. And I’ll do the same.”

She turned around and made for the door.

“Trisha. What are you going to do?”

Trisha stopped and without looking back, she said, “I’ll finish my rehabilitation then go to central.”

“Why?”

Trisha didn’t answer. She just kept walking.

 

 

Eight months later, Trisha had achieved her goal. Charity had been transferred to the home of one of her family’s friends who had come forward to take care of her. Not once did Trisha think about Charity. When Nina asked what she thought Charity would do, Trisha replied bluntly that she didn’t care and that it was none of her business. Trisha dropped all thoughts and memories of Charity like a bad habit. Although she still couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow, the events of the past nine months would follow her in more ways than just her automail arm. The eight months crawled by, filled with painful exercises that gradually became less painful, sparring with family members, Allan bugging her with maintenance and adjustments, and practicing alchemy without a circle. Even so, Trisha had to blink several times when she found herself standing at the Dublith train station.

Suddenly she felt hands on her shoulders, and she turned around to see her father.

“I know where you’re going, and I know what you’re planning.”

“Eh heh,” Trisha laughed nervously, scratching her cheek. “Figures. Can’t hide anything from you.”

“Trisha… why? Why put yourself through that? You know what could happen.”

“Do you trust the fuhrer?” Trisha asked sternly.

“Yes. I may not like him, but I do trust him,” Edward cringed and growled. “But that doesn’t answer my question.”

Trisha lowered her head. “I don’t know. It just feels like something I have to do. Like fate or something.”

Edward shook his head. “I think you’re just trying to follow my footsteps.”

This time Trisha shook her head. “No, it’s bigger than that. I know I have a calling. And I know I won’t find it sitting at home. Whether it’s following you or not, I have to find it. I won’t know until I try. And this is the only way I know how to find it.”

Edward sighed. “Alright. I understand. I’ll send a letter to the fuhrer. Make sure you call your mother from time to time, otherwise none of us will hear the end of it. And you know Allan will want you to call before showing up for maintenance.” Trisha grumbled and Edward laughed. “Yeah, tell me about it.” He kissed her forehead. “I love you. Be careful.”

“I will,” Trisha smiled and hugged him tightly.

“What about me?” Allan gave her a mock pout as he walked up. Trisha rolled her eyes and hugged him as well. He kissed her on top of the head then dug his knuckles into the same spot. “I swear, if you show up at Rush Valley with your arm all busted up like you got it stuck in a garbage compactor—“

“I know, I know,” Trisha winced, thinking of what he would so to her if she did. Allan released her, and Nina walked up, suitcase in hand. “Said your goodbyes?”

Nina nodded. “I’m ready when you are.”

Once they were boarded, the two girls stuck their heads out the window. “Thank you Miss Izumi.”

“You two better not be planning to get into trouble,” she crossed her arms with a scowl.

“Whatever have you that idea?” Trisha looked away.

“Keep your cousin in line, ‘kay Nina?” Alphonse winked.

“Okay~” Nina sang as Trisha growled.

Once again, the train pulled off, blowing its whistle loudly. The girls waved at their family until they were tiny specs in the distance. Trisha sighed and leaned back against the seat with a thud, wincing when she bumped her shoulder wrong.

“Well, we finally checked that off our list,” she said rubbing her shoulder. “Albeit with more effort than wanted.”

“I wouldn’t call it effort,” Nina bowed her head.

Trisha frowned at her then smiled reassuringly. “Hey. It’s fine. Actually, this gives me and edge.” She raised her metal fist, grinning as she placed her other hand on the bicep of the automail. “Just watch! I’m going to ace that exam! No sweat!”

Nina giggled and smiled back. “Even after all that, it’s still hard to discourage you.” She looked out the window at the passing scenery. “Do you really think you’ll pass?”

“Duh! It can’t be that hard! Dad passed it at twelve!” She placed her elbows on the windowsill, resting her chin on her flesh forearm. “I wonder what codename I’ll get?”

“Maybe the Fuhrer will pick on you and give you a weird one,” Nina smiled innocently.

“That’s not funny…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have a new character debuting next chapter! And yes, he's a main character. Kind of surprising given FMA was a two character main cast, and this one is a three character main cast. Ah well. It'll be more interesting.
> 
> Also the format in this one is weird. Dang it. It worked so well in the other chapters... I don't get it. -_-"


	8. Footprints

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trisha takes the State Alchemist's exam. What could go wrong? Duos become Trios.

**_Footprints_ **

 

            The long, drawn out words flowed effortlessly from Joshua’s parched mouth. He didn’t even stop to lick his lips. Even as the raven haired man in front of him took large gulps from his glass of water—most likely to test him—he did not falter. The quicker he finished, the quicker he could get out of the stuffy, claustrophobic building. The tall steps he had dreaded walking up this morning suddenly sounded like a blessing. He rattled off fiscal reports, performance reports, budget requests, and several other things that had already left his memory after they had been described in great detail to the Fuhrer. There were no pauses as he glanced down at his clipboard piled high with notes and scrawled paragraphs. He had already submitted all of this necessary junk in writing, but the Fuhrer had demanded to hear it by word of mouth as well. Joshua seethed at that. Fuhrer Mustang knew how much he hated being here more than he had to.

            “And finally, though this isn’t part of my written report,” Joshua took a deep breath, refusing to wince as the air chafed his throat. “Misty Willis who works at the front desk of the archives has brought it to my attention that Private Arnold Jonson has continuously been making unwanted advances, regardless of her clear demands that he stop.”

            “You’re reporting that to me, why, Second Lieutenant?”

Mustang took another gulp of water, watching as the Second Lieutenant swallowed thickly. The young man’s blue uniform made him look older than he was, even though he had dyed the top and front part of his hair a dirty blonde color and flayed his fringe overt to the side in a feathery sweep. He looked good, yet Joshua, when asked, compared the uniform to a strait jacket.

“Has she talked to her supervisor?”

“She has. Apparently her response was that it was ‘out of her jurisdiction.’ Miss Willis isn’t a soldier, nor is her supervisor or anyone staffed in the archives department. They have no control over even the lowest ranking officers.” Mustang opened his mouth to speak, but Joshua beat him to the punch. “And yes, she’s talked to Private Jonson’s immediate superior officer, who, apparently is a good friend of his. He assured her that it’s just playful flirting. So, she went over his head.”

“And what was that guy’s excuse?”

“He wouldn’t give her the time of day. ‘I don’t have time to listen to whining that doesn’t even come from one of my soldiers,” is what he said, according to her.”

Mustang’s eyebrow twitched in irritation. “Really?”

“Yes, sir. I talked to all three—Willis’ supervisor and the two superior officers. The first brushed it off and the second tried to give me the excuse of listing all the things he was busy with at the time.”

“I see. I will have a word with the three soldiers in question,” Mustang regarded the Second Lieutenant’s written report. “Is that all?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Joshua spotted Riza Hawkeye walk up in through the secretary’s office, carrying the mail. Her blonde hair woke up an image in his mind. “Oh! I saw someone at the train station a few days ago. Two someones actually.” Joshua grinned but Mustang raised an eyebrow.

“And who might that be?” Mustang asked, taking the mail from Hawkeye.

Joshua’s grin got bigger. “Short little thing. Couldn’t miss her. Or maybe you could miss her. She’s still shorter than her cousin, after all.” Joshua tilted his head, looking up at the ceiling. “I wonder if she’ll stay the same size forever?”

“Speak sense Second Lieutentant,” Mustang growled.

He fingered through the mail, sorting priority from junk. That’s when he realized what the Second Lieutenant was talking about. The name stared at him as if it were an elephant sitting on his desk. He couldn’t open it quick enough. When he got the letter out, he read it over quickly, then once again, more slowly this time.

“Oh…”

“Sir?”

“I get it now.” Mustang put a hand to his face and tossed the letter down to the desk. “Joshua.”

Joshua flinched at the use of his first name. “S-sir?”

“Prepare for chaos.”

It was Joshua’s turn to be confused, but he nodded all the same. “Yes, sir…”

 

 

The name on the grave in front of her read “Nina Tucker, a bright young life cut short by tragedy.” That word always rolled around in her head like marbles. Her father always said that the death of the girl whose name he had given her was a tragedy. The one thing he never told her was why it was tragic, other than she was murdered. When Nina grew older, she realized that all untimely death was tragic, especially murder. But why was Nina Tucker’s murder more tragic than others? No matter how many times she asked (“Papa, how did Nina Tucker die? Why was she killed? Did they catch who did it?”) Alphonse Elric would never tell her and forbade her from asking her uncle. And so it remained a secret to seemingly everyone but her.

Nina placed the bouquet of flowers in front of the grave and smoothed her skirt out before sitting down on her ankles.

“Hi, Nina,” she spoke to the grave. “You don’t know me, but my name is Nina, too. My papa is your big brother Alphonse. He tells me all about you. That’s why I keep my hair braided. See?” Nina brought around her long pleat, running her hand over it. “I don’t like braiding my hair. It’s long and my arms hurt when I try to reach back, and sometimes it ends up crooked and lopsided so I have to re-braid it. But I keep it braided because Papa says you always wore your hair in braids. But doing two would take forever, so I only do one.”

Nina picked lint off of her skirt, staring down at her fingers. “I’m sorry you were killed. Papa said you were really young. I can’t imagine dying that young. You missed out on a lot of things. Fun things, sad things, scary things. You could have gone to school, got your first job, had a boyfriend, gotten married, had kids of your own. It makes me sad, thinking of all the things you didn’t get to do. So that’s why I decided that I would do all of them for you. I want to do everything this world has to offer. I want to experience everything, that way when my time comes, I can tell you about everything. Mama says that the Xingese believe in reincarnation, so when you’re reincarnated, you can do everything you didn’t get to this time. Or maybe you’re already out there somewhere? I hope so. Although Mama says that we don’t always get reincarnated as humans.”

Nina was silent for a while, unsure of what else to say to a girl that died years before her parents knew each other. Her promise to herself came to mind. “You obviously already know that the world isn’t always a good place. There are bad people out there who do bad things. And sometimes there are good people who do bad things. But we’re all human. We all are different and we all make mistakes. Some people do unforgivable things, but most mistakes are worth forgiving. Even so, the world is still beautiful. Every day, I’m glad to be alive. So to keep reminding myself that the world isn’t all bad, I made a promise to myself, and now I’ll make it to you, too. I promise to love this life that I was given. I promise to love life itself and everything in it, because everything is worth experiencing. The good and the bad.”

Nina pulled the wrapper off of the bouquet of flowers and spread the flowers out across the ground. She drew a transmutation circle around them and placed her hands on it. A warm green glow bathed the flowers and suddenly their stems unwound, layer by layer. Then, they penetrated the ground, pulling their blossoms with them until the flowering petals were about a hand’s width above the ground. Seeds and pollen poured from the flowers blossoms and the wind scattered them. The seeds took root in the ground and instantly sprouted, grew and blossomed as if they were placed in a time machine. They grew and spread and grew some more until every single grave in the Central City cemetery was adorned with its own mini garden. The other visitors to the graveyard gasped and pointed at the spectacle, looking over at Nina.

Nina smiled and stood up. “There. Now none of the graves will ever go without flowers.”

“You’re something else,” Trisha said as she walked up behind her. “I never would have thought of something like that.”

“It’s sad when graves go without flowers. So I made sure everyone had some, regardless of who they were,” Nina pushed a stray flock of hair behind her ear and smiled.

“So are you going to do this to every graveyard we come across?” Trisha grinned.

“Maybe,” Nina hummed. “I’m ready when you are.”

“Me too. I’m starving, and I want to get back to the Inn before the close the kitchen.” As if on cue, Trisha’s stomach growled.

Nina giggled and laced her fingers through Trisha’s left hand. “Let’s go then.”

The wind blew petals across the cemetery, the flowers at each of the graves swaying back and forth as if waving their thanks.

 

 

Days later, Trisha had taken the State Alchemist’s exam. She had done so without a lick of studying and even finished the entire thing in record time. Mustang and the Second Lieutenant watched as Trisha all but ran out of the exam room shouting like she had just won the lottery, tackling her younger cousin. Joshua had made some comment about Trisha Elric’s energy level, but Mustang wasn’t listening. His thought process had taken him way back from this day to the same day many years ago. He remembered when he had been sitting in his office and had gotten the results of Edward Elric’s test. The boy hadn’t even finished and yet he passed and had done much better than some of the other alchemists had done.

And now, hours later, sitting in his office once again (albeit a very different office) Riza placed Trisha Elric’s test scores in front of him.

“Moment of truth, huh?” Joshua quipped as he sat in the chair in front of Mustang’s desk.

Though he didn’t say anything, Mustang agreed. He popped open the tab on the envelope and slid out the test and the score report sheet. Looking through both, his eyes narrowed.

“Did she pass?” Joshua asked. Beside him, Riza stood quietly with curious eyes.

Mustang tossed the papers towards them. “Depends on what you call passing,” Mustang said, rubbing his hands across his face in frustration.

Joshua and Riza glanced down at the papers. Riza’s eyes widened as Joshua snatched them up. “99.8%?! Are you kidding?! Is that even possible?!”

“She scored full points on 69 out of the 70 questions and missed a couple points on one of them, but she still got the majority of the possible points. In total, she answered 69.8 of the questions correctly.”

“Its’ a fluke! It has to be! She must have cheated!”

Mustang shook his head. “It’s not a fluke, and she didn’t cheat. You were watching her the whole time, too. Her eyes were on her own test the entire time, and when she finished, she had her forehead glued to the table.”

“… What did her father--?”

“87.9%. He didn’t finish, but of the ones he did finish, he got all but two correct.” Mustang stood up and moved over to one of the windows lining the back wall. He stared down into the courtyard, the exact place where Trisha would be taking her practical skills test in a few days’ time. “If Edward had finished like she did… I’m not sure who would have come out on top.”

 

 

 

Trisha looked around the large courtyard. It was entirely paved over—no flowers or greenery of any kind. Beyond the courtyard was a roofed corridor that trailed the perimeter, leading into other parts of the large building. At each entrance and exit were soldiers standing at attention.

“Got enough security?” Trisha whispered to Nina.

“Well, it is right next to the Fuhrer’s office, and he oversees the demonstration, so…” Nina shrugged.

Trisha scoffed. “If they were worried about him being assassinated”—she looked up at the windows to the Fuhrer’s office—“then they shouldn’t have put him in an office with windows to his back.”

“I vaguely remember someone saying the exact same thing,” the deep voice of Fuhrer Roy Mustang laughed.

Trisha cast her gaze down to see him walking up, dressed in his uniform with his hair slicked back. Behind him walked a young man with mostly black hair except for the top portion and his fringe which was dirty blonde. Part of the blonde swept over his eyes which were deep black.

“Trisha Elric. And Nina Elric too. I was wondering when either of you would pop up in Central City.” Mustang stopped only when he was right in front of Trisha, silently wondering if she would quip about him towering over her.

Trisha crossed her arms and looked up, a cocky grin on her face. “Colonel Roy Mustang. You look the same as in the pictures my father showed me of you. More wrinkles though.”

Mustang mirrored her grin, his eye twitching. “I see. Did ‘your father’ tell you to say all that? Especially the Colonel bit.”

Trisha lowered her arms to clasp her hands behind her back, girlishly smiling while tilting her head. “No. I just wanted to see what expression you would make.”

“I see,” Mustang said once again, this time closing his eyes and lowering his head. “You’re not planning on making my job a living hell, are you?”

Trisha waved her hand in front of her face. “Me? No~ I would never do that. Your job’s probably hard enough. You know, being leader of the country and all at such an old age.”

A vein popped in Mustang’s forehead and he gritted his teeth. Behind him, Joshua snorted and sniggered into his fist. Mustang shifted his foot back to dig his heel into Joshua’s foot, effectively silencing him. Joshua coughed, trying not to smile.

“Maybe we should get on with the demonstration,” Mustang half grinned down at Trisha.

“Whatever you say, Colonel,” she trotted off to the other side of the courtyard.

“Is she going to insist on calling me that?” Mustang grumbled.

“She’s cheeky, that one,” Joshua laughed.

Trisha’s voice cut through their conversation. “Colonel Roy Mustang, for my demonstration I chAllange you to a fight.”

When the two of them looked over towards her, she was pointing a finger at him.

“She can’t be serious,” Joshua’s jaw dropped. “She’s young enough to be my little sister!”

“Don’t forget who her father is,” Mustang sighed. He shouted back to Trisha, “Is that really what you want to do? I’d rather not get an angry phone call from Edward because I gave his daughter second degree burns.”

“Who says I’m going to get burned?” Trisha grinned as she peeled her gloves off and dropped them.

Mustang laughed at her confidence. “Alright, fine.” He pulled a set of gloves with red transmutation circles out of his pockets.

Joshua clenched his jaw as he gazed down at the gloves, but Trisha only sneered. Joshua sighed, turning and stepping way back to the edge of the courtyard as Mustang slipped the gloves on. Nina copied Joshua, moving back away from Trisha. The moment Mustang slipped the second glove on, his hand flashed out and to the side. With a snapping sound, sparks flicked out and a large plume of fire followed, exploding dangerously close to Trisha. The fire fizzled out, leaving a cloud of smoke and dust. Suddenly the cloud shifted and from it four needle like pillars shot out towards him. Mustang raised his hand and rubbed his fingers together, destroying the pillars with and explosion of fire. However the moment he did, a gust of hot steam blew towards him. He turned his back, raising his arm to cover his face.

_Steam? She filled the structures with water?_

Four more pillars shot thought the smoke cloud, this time shaped like hammers. Instinctively, Mustang raised his hand, but thought twice and pulled out his saber. He sidestepped and slashed two of them in half. Sure enough, water burst from their hollow shells, dousing one of Mustang’s gloves. He cursed and dropped his saber, yanking his hands back away from the water flow. He pulled the doused glove off with his teeth.

“Very clever, filling them with water.”

In the lapse of smoke he spotted a faint shadow. He raised his hand, following it with his fingers and snapped. Once again, the explosion created a cloud of dusty smoke. Only this time, there was a gust of wind which blew the cloud towards Mustang. Mustang coughed and waved his hand in front of his face, cursing.

While Mustang was overcome with a coughing fit, Trisha ran up through the smoke and clapped her hands together. She extended both arms and light flashed around them. The air cooled considerably and water swirled in midair then splashed over Mustang, dousing him thoroughly. The splash of water cleared the smoke, revealing a soaked Mustang. He cursed and went to clap his hands together, however Trisha kicked out with her leg, sweeping Mustang off his feet. As Mustang landed on his back, Trisha transmuted a speared staff and placed it at his throat as she stood over him.

“I win,” she said expressionlessly. She pulled the staff away and spun it, then staked it into the destroyed ground.

As Mustang rose to his feet, Joshua rushed up. Mustang laughed. “You’re probably the craftiest alchemist I’ve seen in a long time.”

“Thank you,” Trisha said with an honest smile.

Mustang nodded, and then frowned, looking at her metal hand. “You’ve seen it, haven’t you?”

Trisha clenched her jaw, clasping her right arm with her left hand. “I… I tried to stop it, but…”

“It’s alright. I know that no child of either of those brothers would ever try to attempt human alchemy.” Again, he looked at her arm. “Are you trying to--?”

“No!” Trisha shouted a little too loudly. “I’m at peace with my situation. I don’t need to get it back. Truth can have it. All this automail does is make me stronger. I’m alive. That’s all that matters.”

Mustang smiled and nodded. “I like that answer. Well, then, expect a letter in the mail.”

“You’re not going to tell me now?!” Trisha shouted at him as he turned and walked away.

He raised his hand and waved. “I like suspense. Don’t you?”

Trisha growled. “Dammit, Mustang!”

As the two of them walked away, Joshua noticed the scowl on the Fuhrer’s face. “Sir?”

“I have a hard decision to make…” Mustang’s frown deepened. He pulled out the letter from Edward out of his inside pocket and opened it. His eyes gazed down to the words at the very bottom.

 

**_If you make my daughter a State Alchemist, I’ll shove a lit match down your throat. She’s too young, and there’s no need for her to put herself through that._ **

****

**_You’ve been warned,_ **

**_Edward Elric_ **

****

“Charming in his adult life, isn’t he?” Mustang sighed, slipping the letter pack into his pocket. “I wonder whose wrath is worse, his or his daughters?”

 

 

“Trisha!” Nina huffed as she raced after Trisha down the streets of Central City “Sister, please! Wait!”

Fist clenched around the letter the Fuhrer had sent to her, Trisha booked it down the main street towards the military headquarters. Angry tears budded in her eyes. When she reached the main stairs of the headquarters, Mustang and the black-blonde haired guy were heading up the stairs along with a woman whom Trisha recognized as Riza Hawkeye.

“You bastard!” Trisha yelled up at him. The three of them stopped and turned around. Trisha was out of breath and red in the face. She threw the crumpled up letter to the ground. “You failed me?! Why?! I showed you that I was way more than just a capable alchemist!”

“’State Alchemist’ is a title given to those alchemists who are deemed essential to the welfare and evolution of this country. I have the right to accept or decline whoever I deem worthy or not based on their applications,” Mustang told her stoically.

“And I wasn’t?! I beat you fair and square! I aced that exam! How many alchemists can say that about themselves?! Huh? How many alchemists have ever beaten you, Mustang?”

Mustang faced her completely. “You would do well to address me properly, Trisha Elric. I fought hard to reach the position I hold today. And what have you done in your teenage years?”

Trisha flinched and recoiled at Mustang’s words.

He turned around and resumed his accent up the stairs. “The military doesn’t give State Alchemist titles to children anymore. That’s in the past. Try again in five years.”

Trisha growled and was about to chase after him when Nina caught her by the arm. “Sister, don’t. You could get in big trouble if you attack him. Then what?”

Trisha shook her off, but instead of running after Mustang, she turned and ran off the opposite way, ignoring Nina’s calling after her.

Joshua watched as Trisha disappeared into the depths of Central City. He turned to Mustang. “The books on the State Alchemist program was never actually changed, was it? Legally, she can still apply and get accepted. There’s nothing that states that they have to be of age.”

“She doesn’t know that,” was Mustang’s only reply.

Joshua narrowed his eyes at Mustang’s back then turned and made his way back down the stairs.

“And where are you going? You have work to do,” Mustang demanded once he realized Joshua was not following behind him.

“To console a broken heart. I only have menial stuff to do that can be dealt with by other people. Let someone else take care of it.”

Mustang sighed as he watched Joshua pat Nina on the head and head off in the direction Trisha ran. He shook his head and turned away once more. “Why do I even bother?”

“You want what’s best for him,” Riza said suddenly. “We both do. But like you, he has his own agenda, and he’ll do anything to make it happen.”

“He’s not the only one who’s like his father.”

“Trisha has her own path too. She’ll learn that not everything goes her way,” Riza smiled as she followed her husband.

“Hopefully she’ll learn it sooner than later. It would make my job a whole lot easier.”

Down the main street, Joshua glanced around, wondering just how far Trisha could have ran. She reminded him of a cheetah: fast, fierce and sleek. She had the hair for it; she was only missing the spots. He looked around a corner and spotted a blonde head and a red coat. She was across the street sitting at a café with her head between her hands, glaring at the table top, sipping a smoothie through a straw. He crossed over and slipped through the gate to the outside seating area. He pulled the chair across from her out and sat down.

Trisha looked up to see who it was and glared at him. “Mustang’s lackey… What the hell do you want?”

“Hey now,” Joshua said as he waved over the waitress. “I don’t appreciate being called a lackey. Especially to that guy.” He turned to the waitress. “I’ll have a peach iced tea.”

“Are you together?”

“No!” Trisha shouted a little loudly. “No. We’re not. He’s paying for himself.”

The waitress nodded and trotted off.

“I know what it’s like—trying to live up to people’s expectations of you, living in someone’s shadow.”

“Do you now?” Trisha scoffed.

“I do,” Joshua nodded. “People are always telling you how you’re so much like your father. They say, ‘oh look at her. She’s the Fullmetal Alchemist’s daughter. I’ll bet she’s a genius just like him. She’s going to be a great alchemist.’ That puts pressure on someone as young as you.”

“It shouldn’t,” Trisha said. She slumped back against her chair. “It doesn’t. I’m an Elric. My father’s a prodigy. Even before he saw the Truth, he was brilliant. He and my uncle put together a formula and a transmutation circle for human alchemy before they were pre-teens. He became a state alchemist at twelve years old, dammit! I should be able to do that to!”

“Is that why you took the test? To prove that you could? To prove that you’re just as good, if not better than the Fullmetal Alchemist?”

“But I couldn’t even do that. Me, his daughter, couldn’t even become a State Alchemist,” Trisha’s head lowered, her hair covering her face.

The waitress returned with Joshua’s tea and he immediately fished out the slice of peach with his straw and bit it in half, returning the other half to his drink. “You’re ashamed. I get that. And you don’t want others to look at you with shame either. I feel the same.”

Trisha raised her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “How the hell do you know all this? Who are you anyway?”

“That’s not important for right now,” Joshua said. “For now, you should know that I understand your feelings. If I couldn’t surpass my father, the shame and inferiority would kill me inside.”

“Surpass…” Trisha repeated. “I don’t want to be ashamed to be his daughter. And the only way I can do that is…” Suddenly she whipped a bill out of her pocket and slammed it on the table. She stood up abruptly and ran off down the street once more.

Joshua downed his entire drink and slapped a bill of his own on top of Trisha’s. He hopped up and chased Trisha down once again, catching up with her easily this time.

“Why the hell are you following me?!” Trisha looked back at him with a scowl.

“You interest me.”

“That’s your reason!? Do you have any idea how creepy that is?!”

Joshua laughed, and Trisha ignored him as she found what she was looking for: a telephone booth. She entered and closed the door. Joshua turned and leaned against one of the windowed walls, crossing his ankles and arms. Trisha rolled her eyes at his back and pulled a fist full of coins from her pocket. She put in the required amount of coins and spun in the number for her family’s house. It only rang twice before the receiver on the other end clicked.

“Hello?”

Her father never announced which house a person was calling. This was something that annoyed her mother, but Trisha knew her father’s voice well enough to know it was him.

“Dad!”

“Trisha?” His voice sounded almost choked. “How did the—“

“I failed!” She said loudly into the receiver.

“O-oh.”

“I was mad, but I’m fine now!”

“Trisha, I’m sorry. I--”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I was fine. It was naïve and arrogant of me to think I would pass.” It was silent for a long time. Eventually Trisha said, “Dad? You there?”

“Yeah, I was… thinking…”

“Well stop thinking and listen!”

Edward laughed. She could almost hear him shaking his head. “Ok. I’m listening. Talk.”

“I failed!” She said again. “But that’s okay, because I’m still young, and I still have a lot to learn about alchemy. So I’m going to learn everything there is about alchemy and become the best alchemist in the country! And when I do, I’ll take the test again and become a State Alchemist! And then I’ll come back to Risembool and rub it in your face!”

“Really?” She imagined the smirk that was probably his face. “I’ll look forward to it.”

“Good! Cause it’s going to be really salty!”

He laughed again, harder this time. “Was that a pun? That was terrible.”

“You know I’m bad at jokes.”

“That’s true.” He sighed, then asked, “How are you on money? Did you use up what you had?”

“Almost, but I don’t want help. You didn’t have help, so neither will I.”

“Your mom won’t like that decision.”

“Then don’t tell her,” Trisha deadpanned.

“Alright, alright.”

“And one other thing,” Trisha rubbed the fabric of the red coat’s sleeve. “I’m sending the coat back.”

“You don’t want it?”

“I don’t need it.”

“I see. I’ll watch out for it.”

“Dad? I love you.”

“I love you too, Trisha.”

The moment Trisha hung up, she grabbed two fistfuls of hair and screamed, “Aaarrgh! I said all that but how the hell do I do it?!”

Joshua laughed. “The best way to become good at anything is experience.”

She lowered her hands and sighed, stepping out of the booth. “That’s true. But I don’t even know how to go about gaining experience.”

“I might know a thing or two about experience,” Joshua turned around and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a shiny, round, silver pocket watch, twirling it around by its chain.

“You!” Trisha pointed at him. “You’re a State Alchemist!? Who the hell are you?!”

Joshua smiled from ear to ear. “Second Lieutenant Joshua Mustang, the Phoenix Alchemist.”

 

 

Back in Risembool, Edward sighed as he hiked up the stairs to his study. For a moment he had thought Trisha had found out about what he told Mustang in his letter. He couldn’t believe Mustang actually did what he asked. He knew that, without a doubt, Trisha would pass had he not specifically told Mustang to fail her. He knew that it was probably a difficult decision on Mustang’s part. Trisha was brilliant. Prodigy or not, she was clever and intelligent. But he didn’t want his daughter subjected to the military at such a young age. Despite the major changes the program had undergone in terms of what it was meant for and what State Alchemists had to do as part of their duty, she could still be put in danger. That was the last thing he wanted for his daughter.

“She’s going to hate me if she ever finds out,” he said to himself as he pulled out a small stack of books and set them on his desk. He went back to the gap and slid a piece of the back wall out. However, he found that what he usually kept there was gone. He raised an eyebrow. “Strange…”

He went out to the hallway and called down from the staircase. “Winry, have you seen my travelogue?”

“It’s usually in your little cubby hole in the bookcase!”

“It’s not a cubby hole! It’s a hiding spot!” Edward grumbled as he went back to the bookcase. “It’s not there!”

“Maybe you misplaced it!”

“Not possible.”

Regardless, Edward upturned his study looking for the master key to all of his research. It was not something he would easily misplace. He considered maybe Alphonse had borrowed it, then rethought that idea given that Alphonse had tried to crack his code one time and couldn’t do it. Going through all the people who were allowed to touch his travelogue, he finally came down to Trisha.

His head connected with the bookcase. “No. Don’t tell me… She couldn’t have…” He thought it over then scoffed. “Who am I kidding? Of course she could have.”

He replaced the books he had taken out and sighed once more. “Even if she did, there’s no way she could crack it. She couldn’t possibly get anything out of its contents.” He gave the hiding spot a toothy grin before replacing the last book. “My code is genius! Marcoh’s doesn’t even measure up to mine!”             Edward brushed it off and sat at his desk, grinning as he thought about the headache his daughter would have if she did try to crack his code. Suddenly he recalled how her advice to Charity had helped her crack the journal they had found, and that Trisha had been cracking codes he had given her as puzzles since she was a tot. His pen fell out of his hand and he let his head fall to his desk. There was no way possible that she could break his code… But what if she did? The thought of it made Edward sick to his stomach for several reasons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **The test scores in this are not cannon. I made them up. Just in case anyone was confused. (As for the reincarnation thing, I'm not sure about that either...)
> 
> Survey question: At what point did you all realize/know that Joshua was Mustang and Riza's son? XD (Wondering if I made it a little too obvious.)
> 
> Anyway, the first arc of this story starts next chapter. This was just the exposition. Long exposition. I know. 
> 
> Also, I hope you all like Joshua's character. He's both everything and nothing like his father. He'll have his own background/issues too. 
> 
> Joshua Mustang's "voice in my head" is Newton Pittman, who you guys may know as the one and only Gray Fullbuster. (No there will not be stripping.... unless you guys want that lol) He is also Taito Shirei from Hiromu Arakawa's Hero Tales.


	9. Edward's Travelogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She probably shouldn't have, but she did. So why not make the most of it?

_Edward’s Travelogue_

 

Nina sat on a couch next to Trisha who was thumbing through a book on elemental alchemy that had been sitting on the coffee table in front of them. Back in the kitchen, Joshua clinked and clanked around, obviously searching for a clean tea kettle to put on the stove. There was the sound of metal hitting the floor and a loud curse. Nina looked around silently, clutching the skirt of her dress, knees tightly pressed together. Joshua’s house wasn’t the cleanest, but Nina had seen both Trisha’s and her uncle’s rooms in more disarray than Joshua’s entire house. She assumed from the sound of it that he disliked doing dishes.

“Sister…” Nina said meekly.

“Nina?” Trisha said back, vaguely aware of Nina using her “I’m concerned” tone.

“So… how did we end up teaming up with this guy? And who is he?”

“He’s Mustang’s son. He’s a State Alchemist.”

“What?!”

“Okay, I’ve got tea on,” Joshua sighed as he came out from the kitchen into the living room.

The whole front of his white tee was soaked and stuck to his flat, chiseled stomach and part of his chest. Nina squeaked and blushed. Trisha bit her lips together to keep from saying, “wow.”

“And people wonder why I don’t like coffee,” he grumbled.

“Cause you can’t even make tea right?” Trisha grinned, still partially biting her tongue.

As he sat down on the other couch and leaned back lazily, she silently debated on whether or not his torso was more magnificent than anything she had seen on her father. And even now that Edward Elric was in his early forties, his muscles were still nothing short of spectacular. Yes, her father’s looks and figure definitely made for Trisha having a high standard of ideals for the opposite sex. But Joshua with his military jacket open and the tail on his pants falling around his crossed legs was admittedly appealing.

And then Trisha abruptly remembered what Joshua’s last name was, and that he was a good foot and some change taller than her.

_No! Don’t think like that about Mustang’s son! Dad would rip you a new one if you started crushing on him!_ Trisha shuddered at the thought of her dad staring her down with that doomsday look on his face. She gulped and all but twisted her legs together, crossing her ankles.

Joshua scoffed at Trisha’s comment. “Oh I can make tea. I just don’t like doing it.”

“Why don’t you get tea bags?” Nina tilted her head.

“I have expensive tastes when it comes to tea,” he chuckled. “And the expensive kinds don’t come in tea bags. Especially Xingese teas.”

Nina hummed and closed her eyes at the thought of the teas her mother made all the time. “Mmmm. I should have brought some with me.”

Joshua laughed. “I have some you can have.” He laughed again at Nina’s beaming face.

“Yeah, yeah. Enough about tea. You’re a State Alchemist, so what assignments have you been on. And I thought State Alchemists had the rank designation of Major, but you’re a Second Lieutenant. What, did they demote you?”

Joshua narrowed his eyes. “No, I wasn’t demoted.”

He then sighed and pulled out his pocket watch, unlatching it from his belt loop. He held it by the chain and swung it around. The chain connected with the spot between his index finger and thumb. The watch swung around and when it hit his palm, the cover snapped open, revealing the ticking watch face.

“I entered the military before I took the State Alchemist’s exam. I’ve only been the Phoenix Alchemist for two years. My case is special. After I became a State Alchemist, instead of promoting me, my father put restrictions on me. Outside of military offices I have the rank of Major. However, when I’m within any military run facility I have the rank of Second Lieutenant unless specifically told otherwise by my father. My duties are also restricted inside military offices. I’m not a part of anyone’s squadron or under anyone’s command. I’m not commanded by anyone, nor do I have command over anyone. The only person that can order me around is my father. You could call me his personal aid. All of the things that his crew did back when he was a Colonel, I do them now. That’s my job.”

“So you’re your own father’s pet?” Trisha scoffed.

The corner of Joshua’s mouth quirked up into a half smile for a moment. “Kind of. Like I said, my case is special. And even though I’m a Second Lieutenant slash Major, everyone else in the military treats me like I’m a General simply because I’m the Fuhrer’s son. It’s a lot like being stuck in limbo. I can’t be demoted but my father probably won’t promote me either. I entered the military ranks so I could catch up to my father. I’ve been stuck at Second Lieutenant for a while. Two years ago I took and passed the State Alchemist’s exam, hoping that that would bump me to a Major, but instead of moving up I was handcuffed into place by my father. I haven’t even had an assignment—a real assignment—for about a week now.”

Trisha grinded her teeth. “I don’t understand Mustang.”

Nina tilted her head at Joshua. “Was that the only reason for you taking the State Alchemist exam? To catch up to your father?”

Joshua shook his head. “No. There’s something I want to prove to him.”

“And what’s that?” Trisha inquired.

His eyes flashed towards the book Trisha was still holding. “It’s not important.”

“Hey, now wait a minute! I told you my reasoning! It’s only fair!”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Actually, as I recall, I was the one who figured out your reasoning.”

Trisha growled. “That’s not the point!”

Rolling his eyes, Joshua sighed. “Alright, fine.” He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers. His eyes grew dark. “I want to be the next Flame Alchemist. My father is the only one left who knows how to do it. My mother has a tattoo on her back of her father’s research, but she had my father burn part of it, making the research incomplete. Even if it was complete, she would never show me anyway. The only way to learn Flame alchemy is to persuade my father to teach me.”

“Have you asked him to teach you?” Nina wondered.

“I have. Several times. Every time I’ve asked him, he’s refused. I became a State Alchemist so that I could prove to my father that I’m capable of handling it. However, there’s also a third reason. Even if my father doesn’t teach me, I can use my funding and resources as a State Alchemist to try and figure it out myself.”

“Do you even really need to? It looks fairly simple to me,” Trisha scoffed.

“It’s more complicated than that. It’s not just adjusting oxygen concentrations and making sparks. There are other elements to it. I just don’t know what those other elements are. And then there’s the ignition cloth. Only my father knows how to make that. He makes all of his gloves himself. He only keeps one or two pairs on him, and the rest he keeps in a vault in his office back at the mansion. There aren’t even any writings on it that I know of. My grandfather burned all of his written material and transferred the secrets of Flame alchemy into my mother’s tattoo. Since the tattoo is gone and my father refuses to teach me, I have no way of learning it other than figuring it out myself. But I’m no genius.”

Trisha hummed and looked down at the book in her hands. There had been an analysis of Roy Mustang’s Flame alchemy in the fire section of the book, but that was all gossip and hearsay. She ran her hand over the cover. Then she remembered it.

“Ah ha!”

Trisha jumped up and ran over to her suitcase.

“Sister? What are you doing?”

She opened her suitcase and dumped out its contents, ignoring Joshua’s comment about her making his place even more of a disaster area. She sifted through her stuff before pulling a tank top off of a leather bound journal. She snatched it up and trotted back to the couch.

“I forgot I had this,” she handed Joshua the journal.

He cracked the book open to the place the bookmark was holding. He read the entry aloud.

“’The first thing I realized about the desert is that sand gets everywhere. And by everywhere, I mean everywhere. Seriously! It’s ridiculous! I took off one of my boots, and I swear an entire sand dune poured out of it! Not to mention it clogs up automail. I must have stood inside of our room in this stupid church shaking my arm and leg for an hour getting sand out of the gears. This crap better not cost me a trip back to Risembool. Winry will kill me if I show up with my automail filled with sand. I’m getting a headache just thinking about all the wrenches she’ll throw at my head.’”

Joshua blinked and Nina’s head whipped around to gape at Trisha whose face was beaming with pride.

“TRISHA!”

“What? What did I do?”

“YOU DIDN’T! HOW COULD YOU?!”

“What?! He didn’t need it! He lived it for god’s sake!”

“You… took your father’s research journal…” Joshua deadpanned. Then it was as if he suddenly woke up. He jumped up. “You stole your father’s research!? Who does that?!”

“Yes. Yes I did. Get over it. Anyway, I was thinking that maybe Mustang told my dad about his alchemy. Maybe he told him how it works and my dad wrote it down. Either that or my dad figured it out on his own.”

“Oh ho,” Joshua grinned, matching Trisha’s expression. He sat back down and flipped through the travelogue. “You think so? Let’s decipher it then!”

“Ah, well. Actually, deciphering it is nearly impossible.”

Nina grabbed Trisha by the shoulders and shook her. “If it’s impossible then why did you steal it!?”

“I didn’t steal it! I borrowed it! And I said it’s _nearly_ impossible!” Trisha grabbed Nina’s arms in an effort to keep her head from flopping around.

“So then how do we decipher it?” Joshua said eagerly.

“The way you decipher any well written code: with the right knowledge.” When Joshua blinked at her confusedly, she sighed. “Alchemists’ codes are usually written with innuendos. To understand the innuendo, you have to know what piece of information the word or phrase corresponds to. My father’s code is a travelogue, so for example, in this passage about my father being in Liore, whenever he talks about a specific person, place or thing that he encountered, it usually is a cover for something else he encountered or learned while there in Liore that has to do with his research. He may use landmarks or people to remind himself of what he learned there, then use specifics about the place or person to describe the information more in depth.”

“Uh, I kind of get it but…”

“Ok, how about this.” Trisha grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil that Joshua had sitting nearby. She drew what looked like a cake with three layers and frosting in the middle. “My father told me that Tim Marcoh’s notes were a cookbook. In this case, if a recipe he had in there was for a triple layered cake, that might be a code for a triple layered transmutation circle. The sponge would be the circles themselves—how you draw them, what runes you use, how big you draw it. The ingredients would be what all goes into creating the circle and even the material you use for the transmutation itself. And the frosting would be the means of connecting the three circles together to make them all work in sync.”

“That’s… loaded,” Joshua bit his bottom lip. He looked back at the travelogue. “But if that’s the case, then all we need to do is match up what your father talks about with the parallels in alchemy and research those parallels.”

Trisha shook her head. “You still don’t get it. It’s impossible to find all of the parallels in my father’s research. His code is a travelogue. That means that each and every piece of information in here is hidden in his experiences and the places he’s been, people he’s talked to. Being a travelogue, these things would represent what he learned, when he learned it and where he learned it. We would have to know exactly what happened and where. We would have to know even specific details down to the letter. And there are two ways of knowing that: either we ask my father himself, or trace his footsteps. The first one is not an option. He would never tell us. And the second one is impossible, especially since this happened over twenty years ago. Even if it happened yesterday, it would take us years to collect every part of his life. Even then, we might not get everything.”

“Like a jigsaw puzzle. Only in order to start building, you have to find all the pieces first.” Nina turned to Trisha again and shook her once more. “In which case it is impossible and you took it for nothing!”

“But, what about you two? I’m sure they told you stories,” Joshua suggested optimistically.

“Well, in the grand scheme of things, our fathers didn’t tell us that much. Our stories were basically bedtime stories, life lessons and ‘eat your veggies otherwise this will happen.’ They didn’t tell us the nitty gritty. The never got into too much detail. Even the loaded stuff was watered down.” Trisha blinked at Joshua suddenly, then grinned. “Although… there is one other person that might know the majority of what our dads went through.”

Joshua gulped, not liking the look in Trisha’s eyes. “I don’t like where this is going…”

Trisha put a hand to her chin. “We have to ask Mustang about our dads without directly letting him know what we’re doing.”

“You’re delusional. My father is all knowing. He’ll figure it out eventually. And weaseling information out of him is like trying to hug a grizzly bear. It just doesn’t happen,” Joshua shook his head several times. “But… he is our only lead. And my only lead could be inside your father’s research.”

“You know, instead of mooching off of my connections, maybe you should try taking and decoding your own father’s journal,” Trisha rolled her eyes.

Joshua waved his hand in front of his face. “No, no. I could never. My father would roast me alive if I tried. Besides, I don’t even know where in the mansion it is.”

Trisha smirked at him. “Wimp. Even I did that much. Dad didn’t even hide it very well.”

“I am not a wimp! I’m being wise! Or is your brain so small you already forgot who my dad is!?”

“WHAT WAS THAT?!”

“Oh please no,” Nina’s face fell in her hands.

“SAY IT AGAIN! I _DARE_ YA!”

“Bird brain! No, wait. Maybe your brain is even smaller than that. Maybe you have a _bug brain_!”

“YOU’RE THE STUPID ONE! YOU’RE SO STUPID YOU CAN’T EVEN FIGURE OUT FLAME ALCHEMY ON YOUR OWN!”

“It’s harder than it looks! I told you that!”

“HOW HARD CAN IT BE?! YOU JUST SNAP YOUR FINGERS AND BOOM! Or maybe you _can’t_ snap?”

“ _I can snap very well thank you! Your fingers are probably too **small** to snap!”_

            _Thwack_!

            “Sister, no! Not your right hand!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *bows deeply* I'm sorry. I had get at least one short rant in before she grows out of it. 
> 
> Huh? What's that you say? "She'll grow out of it?" *coughs* I dunno what you're talking about. XD I tried to make it as least like Edward's as possible. And yes. she punched him. XD (Nina's lines in this chapter are some of my favorite in the whole story so far.)
> 
> And finally... *pokes fingers together* I screwed up Joshua's rank on the last chapter, so i had to compensate in this chapter. I had actually thought that Major was below Second Lieutenant (cause I suck at military ranks) but actually it goes 2nd lt, 1st lieutenant, captain, ... something something, and then major. so that's where Joshua's little story comes in. DX That's the second time I screwed up. The first time I screwed up, I had trisha say something she wasnt supposed to in Move Forward. the compensation for that will come later.


	10. Mustang's Pride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's official. Trisha Elric is a bad influence. 
> 
> (Surprise guest character appearance in this chapter! XD)

**_Mustang’s Pride_ **

 

            It was the day after. They had spent a whole day planning out this moment. They had covered all bases and thought out responses and countermeasures for every possible thing that could go wrong. And while Mustang would probably figure them out in the end, they didn’t think that he would do anything more than tell them “nice try,” and toss them out. The hard part was Joshua’s job and that Trisha and Nina would have to keep Mustang talking long enough for Joshua to do what he needed to do and get back before Mustang (or even his mother Riza) could figure out what he was up to.

            “Okay, we all remember what we talked about?” Joshua recapped as he led them down the street.            

            “Yup!” The girls chimed.

            “Good.”

            “And if Mustang sniffs us out and tries to turn us into human rotisserie, we blame everything on you and make like a bug and flee,” Trisha smirked.

            Joshua frowned. “I don’t remember us agreeing to that.”

            Trisha only chuckled.

            “Ok. We’re here.”

            Joshua stopped so abruptly that Trisha ran right into his back. Grumbling, she rubbed her nose and glanced to the left. Her jaw dropped and she sputtered. The Fuhrer’s mansion was enormous. It was three, maybe four stories high and spanned the length of a soccer field, maybe longer. She couldn’t tell how far back it went, but she knew it had to be pretty big in that direction as well. The front lawn itself could double as a soccer field if the paved walkways weren’t in the way. Half way down the courtyard stood a tall, extravagant fountain with a rearing mustang horse as the fountain head. Trees and brushes dotted the landscape.

            “Huge!!!!” Trisha and Nina shouted.

            Joshua laughed. “Yup. And it made for some pretty cool explorations as a kid.”

            “You grew up here?!” Trisha gaped.

            “For the most part, yes.”

            “Now I really feel like a country girl…” Nina said quietly.

            They crossed the large front yard, stopping briefly to gawk at the magnificent fountain. Trisha quipped that it would be funnier if “Mustang were riding the mustang,” to which Joshua just rolled his eyes. Eventually, they reached the large double doors. There was an intercom system to the right of the door. Joshua punched the call button and a few seconds later, a voice drawled out from the speaker.

            “May I help you?” The voice was of an older man that Trisha pictured would have slicked back salt and pepper hair and a pencil moustache.

            “Hey, Alfred. It’s Joshua,” he spoke back into the speaker, holding the talk button.

            “Welcome back, Sire,” the tired voice greeted.

            There was the sound of a lock clicking, and Joshua reached out and turned one of the door handles, pushing inward. The moment the doors were open, they saw a tall, older man dressed in a pressed, black and white butler’s uniform. He looked exactly as Trisha imagined, to which she wondered if Mustang had went out and found a butler with the most stereotypical appearance ever.

            “Master Joshua,” Alfred bowed, outstretching his arm for Joshua’s coat.

            “Morning, Alfred. Is my father around?” Joshua handed over his coat to Alfred.

            “Yes, he is. If you may, please wait in the common room, and I will call for him.”

            “Thank you.”

            As Joshua took them to the common room, Trisha looked back at the entrance to find Alfred already gone. She blinked.

            “Damn! He’s a ghost!”

            “That’s what I said,” Joshua laughed. “Dad thinks that maybe he installed secret passageways throughout the mansion. Mom thinks that he can teleport.”

            “I bet your dad hired cute maids too,” Nina giggled.

            “Several,” Joshua grinned as he pushed open two more double doors.

            Once again, the girls lost their jaws.

            The common room was easily the size of half the Rockbell house. The walls were a deep mahogany and the lavish leather furniture matched. A thick, glass coffee table was the centerpiece of a set of couches, loveseats and recliners. A tall lamp sat at the edge. The tan floorboards were so polished they could see their reflections in them. There were desks and roll-tops pushed up against the walls. At one end, up against a wall, sat a tall, antique grandfather clock. The pendulum inside rocked lazily from side to side. The clock reminded Trisha of Alfred in some way. Overhead was a lavish crystal chandelier. Two large flower pots sat on either side of the oak fireplace. Overhead was a painted family portrait of Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye and a young Joshua who looked no older than twelve. Joshua’s young smile split his face and his eyes were bright. Raven hair looked as though it had once been combed back, but was recently mused and messed up. Below the portrait on the mantle was a line of other family pictures. Above the flower pots were large cabinets with glass and wood cross hatched doors. Inside sat other antiques and family heirlooms as well as books and photo albums.

            “It’s so beautiful,” Nina said breathlessly.

            Trisha stood at the fireplace, gazing up at the poster sized portrait. “You were kind of adorable, huh?”

            “Only kind of?”

            “Kind of,” Trisha repeated. “Allan was cuter.”

            “Allan?”

            “My brother.”

As soon as the words were out, Trisha thought that maybe Joshua at twelve did take the cake. He had puffy cheeks and pouty lips. As she looked closer at him, she realized he had dimples; two deep ones, one on each side. She bit her lip and turned to look at the present day Joshua. Suddenly she had an urge to see those dimples. She tried to think of a way to make him laugh. Her mind scrolled through dozens of lame knock knock jokes and ways she could poke fun at him. She looked back to the portrait then down at the family photos. She picked up one of an elderly woman with a permanent scowl. Next to her stood a younger Mustang with shorter hair.

“That’s my grandmother.”

Trisha jumped and looked behind her to see Joshua towering over her. She looked back to the photo. “Your grandmother?”

“Well, technically she’s my great aunt. She’s my father’s aunt on his father’s side. She’s my biological grandfather’s younger sister.”

“Where’s your real grandparents?” Nina asked, looking over Trisha’s shoulder.

“They died when my dad was really young. He doesn’t even remember them and there’s no pictures or documents or anything.”

“How did they die?” Trisha wondered.

“There was a fire. My grandfather told my grandmother to take my father and get out. She made it out, but she couldn’t leave her husband. She left my father in her sister-in-law’s hands and went back in to save him. Neither of them came out.”

“That’s terrible,” Nina raised her hand to her heart.

“I suppose that’s why he wanted to learn Flame alchemy. He’s never confirmed or denied that though,” Joshua replaced the picture back on the mantle and turned towards the seating area.

The three of them sat down on the largest couch. Soon, Alfred came in with a rolling cart filled with tea, coffee and pastries and cookies. Behind him was Mustang. Alfred wheeled the cart next to the coffee table and set it with goodies. Trisha immediately picked up three linzer cookies.

“Wow. You live like a king,” Trisha grinned, biting into a cookie. She froze then tears overflowed in her eyes and she held the cookie up. “This is the best cookie I’ve ever had in my life! No fair! I want to live here!”

Mustang grinned. “I take it you’re no longer angry with me.”

Trisha stuffed another cookie in her mouth. “If I was, this cookie made me forget about it.”

Mustang chuckled and sat down in the recliner. “So, to what do I owe this visit?”

Trisha sobered up, wiping cookie crumbs off with her sleeve. “The two of us, Nina and I, wanted to learn more about our fathers. They won’t really tell us anything when we ask them about their past. We figured you might tell us some of what they won’t.”

Mustang sighed. “I see. I can understand why they won’t tell you. Their past wasn’t a happy one. Even less so than what you can imagine.”

As Mustang spoke, Joshua rose to his feet and excused himself. Quietly he left the room, leaving the girls to talk with his father.

“I know that. We know that, but…”

“We want to know anyway,” Nina finished. She looked to Trisha. “My sister has already gone through hell. We’re already partly exposed to some of what they went through. Even though I wasn’t involved in the transmutation, it still affects me in other ways.”

“I want to become a better alchemist,” Trisha said sternly. “The best alchemist I know of is my dad. I want to learn from his mistakes and his experiences so I can be just as great as he is, if not better.”

Mustang scratched his jaw. “Your logic is sound.” He sighed once more. “But, unfortunately I can’t tell you anything. Well, rather that I shouldn’t. Those brothers’ past isn’t something I should go around discussing freely with anyone. Not even—and probably especially—their own daughters. If they haven’t told you specifics, then I can only assume that there are reasons they haven’t told you. Regardless of what they are, I need to respect those reasons as someone who lived their life alongside the Elric brothers. I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you.”

Trisha gritted her teeth. “I see. No wonder Dad trusts you so much. He’s always said ‘I don’t like Mustang, but I’d trust him with my life.’ I’ve never really understood that, but I guess I kind of do now.”

Mustang quirked a smile then put his hand back to his chin. “You know, now that I think about it, I made Fullmetal submit just about everything that happened to him in writing. He hated doing reports, which just made me want to give him more to do. Yup, I could have probably written a book and made millions with all the reports I made him write.”

Nina and Trisha blinked then looked at each other. Trisha shot to her feet and bowed. “Thank you!” She said the words loudly and simply.

“Oh? Was that it?” Mustang feigned surprise.

“Yes, that’s is,” Trisha’s lips twitched.

“Alright then,” Mustang stood up. “I’ll walk you to the front.” As they left the common room, Riza walked by. “Riza. Have you seen Joshua? He got up and ran off somewhere. He brought them here, so he should walk back with them too.”

“I saw him just a few minutes ago,” Riza blinked and looked back the way she came. “He kissed me on the cheek and kept going. I’ll go find him. I’m sure he couldn’t have gotten far.”

“Really? In this place?” Trisha looked down the never ending hallway.

“It is very big,” Riza chuckled. She turned to Mustang. “I’ll send him up this way when I find him.”

“Thank you,” Mustang said, kissing her on the cheek.

 

 

Meanwhile, Joshua was searching every corner of his father’s study, which was a decent sized room inside of their library which was several rooms long and just as many wide with long, tall bookshelves, all filled to the brim. He poked and prodded and up turned piles of papers, files and books, looking for any sign of his father’s alchemic journal. He opened and emptied drawers and pulled books off of shelves and even flipped through them. When he thought he had thoroughly searched every part of the study, he stepped out and walked over to the reception desk where their librarian was filing things away. She was a mousy woman with brown hair and glasses.

“Miss Sheska.”

“Yes!” Sheska’s squeaky voice chirped from behind a shelf.

“I’m looking for something my father might have hidden in the library. He might have given it to you to put away somewhere.”

Sheska slid the last of the files into their place and walked over to him. “What is it?”

“It would have been a journal. Mostly likely leather bound. If you read it, it would have made no sense to you, most likely. In fact, it might have reminded you of Tim Marcoh’s notes that were kept in the Central Library.”

“Hmm, no I don’t think so,” Sheska tilted her head and put a finger to her chin.

“Really? You’re sure?”

“Yes. Positive. I’m sure you know I remember everything that’s ever been given to me to put away. I don’t remember ever being given something like that.”

Joshua sighed. “Then it’s not here.” He turned and leaned back against the desk, looking into the study. “Where could it be?”

He walked back into the study and closed the door. He went around behind the desk and pulled the chair out, proceeding to examine his father’s desk top to bottom. He was running his hands against the smooth wood and looking up inside the top of the drawers when suddenly the study door opened.

“What are you doing?”

Joshua jumped and cracked his skull against the oak desk. He cried out and carefully came out from under the desk, rubbing his head. His mother stood at the door with a suspicious look on her face.

“Hi, Mom. I was, uh, just dropping off a file. Since he was busy talking to the girls I brought it here.” He looked down at the sprawl of papers on the desk. His hands shot out to scoop them up into a neat stack. “They slipped out of my hands so I was cleaning up.” He bent down to pick up some pens that he pulled out of a drawer. He held them up with a nervous laugh then set them in the cup filled with writing utensils.

Riza raised an eyebrow but let it go. “Well, your father is looking for you. Nina and Trisha are ready to go.”

“Wow. That was fast,” Joshua said mostly to himself.

“Come again?”

“N-nothing. Just, I thought maybe he would have told them a bit more. I guess not.”

He swerved back around and head for the door. Riza followed him out and out to the hallway in front of the library. They walked silently for a while, Joshua’s hands in his pockets. He knew he wouldn’t find it. He told Trisha that there were too many possibilities—too many hiding spots—within the walls of the mansion. She, however, remained optimistic.

“You know…” Riza said suddenly. “Your father thinks the world of you.”

“Yeah?” He replied halfheartedly, not really listening.

“He does, Joshua. He’s always saying that he’s proud of you and that you’ll be a great man one day who does big things. You’re his pride and joy.”

Joshua rolled his eyes. _Mama babble again. She always does this._

They hadn’t taken even ten steps after she spoke those words when Joshua stopped dead, eyes wide. Riza stopped and turned to look at him.

“Pride and joy,” Joshua repeated. He looked up at his mom who simply watched him like a TV show. “I forgot something.” Then he turned and ran back in the direction they came, only this time taking a left.

Riza smiled and turned back, walking back to the front of the mansion.

“Of course he would do something like that,” Joshua said as he ran. “The last place I would ever think to look.”

After a bit of running, he came to a corner of the mansion with a single door. On the door was the name “Joshua” spelled out in big, craft letters. He threw the door open and was faced with his childhood bedroom. It was the exact same: messy, filled with knickknacks and other boyish stuff. He threw open the curtains, filling the dusty room with light. He looked around until his eyes gravitated towards his old desk. Walking over to it, he looked down at the desktop. Stuck to the surface with seemingly a whole roll of tape were several pictures. All of them were family pictures, mostly of himself with his dad. And in the middle was a picture of his father holding him as a baby. Baby Joshua was fast asleep on his shoulder, and Roy was also passed out, leaning back on the couch, still in his General’s uniform, holding a book in one hand.

Joshua ran his hands over the collage of pictures, nostalgia welling inside him. He shook his head and forced it down, then tossed the chair out of the way. He examined his desk the same way he examined his fathers. Finally he opened the last drawer and stuck his hand inside. He pulled out drawings by himself years in the past and other piles of artwork. When the drawer was empty he pulled it out and knelt down, looking inside. Faintly, he could see a bulge in the dark wood. He stuck his hand inside the desk’s cavity and felt around. His fingers brushed up against something distinctly leather. He hooked his fingers around it and pulled. There was the sound of tape being pulled and he pulled out a leather bound journal. He stripped the old tape away and cracked open the book for what seemed like the first time in years. He only needed to read the first line to confirm its contents.

“’My date with Clara today didn’t go as planned.’” Joshua laughed, shaking his head. “Well played, Dad.”

He closed the journal and slipped it into his pocket before leaving the old room, closing the door once more.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok first, just to let you all know, in case you were wondering, the story about mustang's parents is not cannon. It's not even filler. I came up with that story for the sake of this chapter/story in general. The nature of Mustang's parents' deaths are unknown in the manga/Brotherhood. Now, Madam Christmas (Chris Mustang IS Mustang's aunt. That part is cannon.)
> 
> Yes, the butler's name is Alfred. No, his last name is not Pennyworth. I'm just severely uncreative with names. XD
> 
> And now... Sheska! XD I love Sheska. She's adorable. I imagine that she would be hired by Mustang to keep all his Fuhrer stuff in order cause 1) there's so much crap and she's got a photographic memory and 2) Mustang is lazy... very lazy. I also imagine Mustang pays her better personally than her being a Private in the military. After all, she's in charge of his library. ALL OF IT. Who WOULDN'T pay her really well?


	11. Their Fathers' Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Trio take a field trip to the one person who can help them decode Mustang's research, and Nina and Trisha realize just how horrible their fathers' past was.
> 
> (Another guest character appearance in this chapter!)

**_Their Fathers’ Truth_ **

 

            “I told you! I. Told. You!”

            Nina laughed as she watched Trisha dance around Joshua who sat on the recliner with his chin in his hand, slouching as he followed Trisha with his eyes.

            “You didn’t think we could do it, but we did! I told you we would, and we did!”

            “Yes, yes you did,” Joshua said just to humor her as she disappeared behind the recliner then reappeared in the left side of his field of vision.

            “What’s more, you didn’t think you’d be able to find your father’s journal, but you did!”

            “Only because my mother tipped me off,” he raised a finger in the air.

            “But you still got it, didn’t you? You figured out her tip, and you got it!”

            Joshua looked over at Nina who just kept smiling. He asked with his eyes, “Is she always like this?”

            Before he could read Nina’s silent reply, Trisha bent over at the waist, her hands on her hips. Her nose was mere inches from his. She had the cockiest, goofiest grin on her face, but he could only focus on two things: her aquamarine eyes like crystal orbs and her long, thick hair falling around her face, over her shoulders and down her back. He could smell her scent as clearly as if it were perfume—an earthy, grassy scent mixed with wine. She smelled like the countryside, and suddenly he guessed that he smelled utterly disgusting in comparison. He probably smelled like the city, which could be any number of things. Trisha may be the daughter of Edward Elric, and she may be a complete tomboy, but there was something very feminine about her. Something desirable. He wondered if she had boy after boy lined up, ready to pounce on her back in Risembool.

            “What?”

He managed to speak the word without his voice breaking. Trisha giggled, which he thought was out of place because even though he hadn’t known her for very long, he most certainly knew that Trisha Elric did not giggle. At least, he assumed she didn’t because he hadn’t heard her giggle. Nina giggled, most definitely. But Trisha would sooner laugh like a mad man than giggle girlishly.

Still, he knew what she wanted. He threw his hands up. “Okay, okay, okay. You were right! We did it! Hoorah! Go team! Hail fearless leader Trisha Elric! Happy now?”

Trisha stood back up, her hands still on her hips. “Yes, but I don’t think of myself as a leader. Our group is a democracy.”

Joshua scoffed a laugh and ran his hands down his face. “I don’t get you at all. So, what did you find out from my dad?”

“A jackpot! He didn’t outright tell me, but he said that he made my dad submit pretty much everything in writing. He made him write reports out the wazoo. So if that’s the case, instead of weaseling info out of Mustang or my dad, all we need are the primary sources written by him: his reports!”

Joshua scratched his jaw. “Reports, huh? Well if that’s the case, they would be confidential, restricted files that would only be released and viewed by the Fuhrer himself or anyone he gives permission to. Those files are kept in a special room next to his office.”

“Are you allowed in the file room since you’re his son?” Nina wondered.

“Yes. I have a key to the room. One of only three. The other two are in the hands of my father and my mother.”

Joshua stood up and went over to a wall where a roll-top desk was sitting. He rolled up the top and took out a stack of books, then popped out a square cut out from the desk. It revealed a locked combination safe. He spun in the combination and opened the safe. Trisha tilted her head to peek into the safe. Inside were several handguns with ammunition, some documents, a rather fat money pouch, a journal and a ring of keys. Joshua took the ring of keys and closed the safe back up, resetting the spinner to zero. He replaced the cut out and the books and rolled the top of the desk back down. He pocketed the keys.

“I’ll get into the room and read everything I can on your fathers. If I can, I’ll bring back the files themselves.”

Trisha nodded. “Great. With that, decoding my father’s travelogue will be a cake walk. Or who knows, maybe we won’t even need to decode it. Maybe the reports will tell us everything we need to know.”

Joshua nodded as well, then pulled out his own father’s journal. He set it on the coffee table, sitting down on one of the couches. “As for my father’s research, his code is detailed records of his love lives with all the women he’s been with.”

“Detailed?! Gross! Jeez, Dad told me Mustang was a womanizer but that’s just plain ick factor times ten!!” Trisha mocked a retch.

“It seems a bit too flashy and obvious for a code to me,” Nina placed her index finger on her bottom lip in thought.

“At first glance, yes. But I was thinking. Trisha said that codes are about innuendos and parallels. If my father’s code is with names of women and his dates with them, then it could be that each woman has something in common with some part of his research. That could be anything. It could be as small and miniscule as her eye color. Also, it would be something that only he would know.”

With an expression of complete disgust, Trisha picked up the journal as if it carried the plague. She pinched the corners and the pages and flipped through it, reluctantly reading its contents.

“God, this is just… ugh. If I were Hawkeye, I would have burned this son of a bitch.”

Nina laughed. “So you’re the jealous type, Sister? Who knew?”

“Oh come off it! Any girl would be jealous after reading junk like this about their partner.” She sighed and began reading more analytically. “Ok, so it looks like he has dates, times and locations noted very specifically for each entry and for each woman. They probably coincide with parts of his research… Maybe the names of the women and what he did with each one have less to do with it than the time, date and location. Also, some of the information could even be false in order to match up more with his research or to hint at his research.” She snapped the journal shut and tossed it back on the table. “Of course, with a code like this, there are almost endless possibilities and combinations. Finding the right one would take time.”

“But not for you, right Sis?” Nina smirked.

Trisha grinned. “Definitely not.”

Joshua grabbed Trisha’s hands and proceeded to thank her dozens of times over. “Thank you so much! I never would have been able to get this far if it wasn’t for you!”

Trisha flushed and pulled her hands out of his. “H-hey now. Don’t go getting carried away. Tracking down every woman Mustang has ever been with would be just as impossible as trying to trace my father’s footsteps.”

“Oh… right.” Joshua sighed heavily and leaned back. Then, he blinked and smirked. “But then… there is someone who knows all about my father’s exploits. He probably knows more about my dad’s love life than anyone else.”

“Who?” The sisters hooted in unison, endlessly curious.

Joshua’s grin split his cheeks. “Jean Havoc.”

 

 

A little while later, Joshua left to go retrieve the files from the restricted file room. While the girls waited for him to come back, Trisha paced, biting the nails on her left hand. At one point, she forgot about her automail and tried to bite the non-existent nails of her right hand. She ended up hurting her teeth, clapping her left hand over her mouth and whining in pain. Nina stared at her with concern.

“He’s taking too long.”

“I’m sure he’s fine.”

“But what if he’s not?” Trisha stopped and clenched her hands. “What if Mustang caught him and he’s giving him the lecture of a lifetime?”

“Sister…”

“Or what if it’s worse? What if he got locked inside and there’s no windows? What if some higher up other than Mustang caught him and threw him in jail?! Or even worse! Mustang could have baked him like a turkey!”            

Suddenly Nina realized what it was. She giggled. “Trisha, you’re worried about him.”

“What?! No! I just want to get the show on the road. Besides, he may have a key, but I’m sure Mustang doesn’t want even him going in there without permission. Plus, he’ll be essentially stealing those files.”

“I’m sure he’s fine. He’s pretty smooth.”

“Yes, he’s very smooth…” Trisha spoke without thinking. When she turned and looked at Nina, Nina had a look on her face that was mischievous and read “jackpot.” “I mean—of course he’s smooth! He’s a Mustang! Smooth is his middle name!"

“Actually my middle name is Maes, after the late Maes Hughes.”

Trisha jumped, gasping. Joshua stood at the door carrying his shoulder back that he left with. “H-h-how much of that did you hear?”

“Something about I’m a Mustang and smooth is my middle name.”

Trisha sighed in relief. Then suddenly she noticed the jaded look in his eyes. “W-what did you find out?”

“A lot,” he set the bad down on the coffee table. “And then some.” He pulled out a very thick, heavy stack of files, some bound in leather, some held together with paperclips.

“Wow. Is that?”

Joshua nodded. “Everything. All of it. Every last file I could find. All written by Edward Elric. All in chronological order.”

“Uh. Maybe taking all of them was too much. I mean, I know you said you’d take some of them if you could, but… All of it?”

“No one will be looking for it. They were hidden behind a wall in the room and there was so much dust covering them that they were illegible at first.”

“Alright, well. Thanks. I know it couldn’t have been easy to get them.” She reached down to take from the top of the stack but Joshua slammed his hand down over the top. “Hey,” Trisha narrowed her eyes. “What gives?”

“Not now.”

“Bullshit! After all this?!” She tried to pull a file from underneath Joshua’s strong hand but it wouldn’t budge. “Knock it off! Let go!” She tried to shove him out of the way but it was like playing tug of war with a boulder.

“No,” Joshua refused again. “You can read them later.”

“No!” She punched him in the chest with her left hand. “I said let go dammit!”

“You can have them after we get back from Havoc’s,” Joshua said as if telling a child to eat their dinner before having their dessert.

“Why!?”

Joshua was silent for a long time before he sighed. “Let’s just go.”

Trisha said not one word to him the entire trip to the store Jean Havoc was in charge of.

 

 

At Havoc’s General Store, said person let out a loud sneeze. He groaned and snatched up a tissue from the box next to him. “Damn. I hope I’m not getting sick. I’ve been sneezing all day.”

Jean Havoc picked up an oak cane that was leaning against the countertop and walked into the back where they kept their overstock, rubbing his back where two small scars shaped almost like bullet holes were. It was one of those days where his muscles ached. He looked over to where they kept their weapons supplies. The day before, they had gotten a shipment of military rifles, one of Havoc’s favorites in fact. But now they were gone.

“Rebecca! Where are the rifles we had come in?!”

Rebecca Catalina came in from the back door, carrying a crate filled with bars of soap. She wore a long sleeved black shirt and pine colored cargo pants. She was unable to drop the habit of wearing her military uniforms, but Havoc couldn’t care less. She made cargo look damn good.

“Jessica took them out back to the shooting range to clean and test them. She said came in pretty dusty. Apparently they looked like antiques!”

“That girl. I swear she’s gonna put her own or someone else’s eye out.”

“Oh come on! It’s not like the BB gun she had when she was younger.”

“Exactly my point!” Havoc grumbled and rubbed his cheekbone. “I had a black eye for a week. That girl is a good shot. She might even be better than Hawkeye one day.”

Rebecca laughed. “Hey, maybe I can get Riza to give her some lessons.”

“Absolutely not!”

Rebecca laughed harder as she stocked the shelves. Havoc went out the back door and made his way over to the open air shooting range behind the store. It was gated off with a large tent roof over the area away from the targets. Behind the wooden targets shaped like bodies was a concrete wall to keep stray bullets from flying off and hitting people. Off in the distance he saw a girl laying on her stomach in the ground level area of the range. A pile of rifles and a box of ammunition lay next to her. She wore black cargo capris, black tennis shoes, and a white tube top. Her hair was short and blonde in the front but longer and black in the back. The back was tied into a slender ponytail. Her hand reached out to take a handful of bullets. One by one she carefully loaded them into the rifle. She slid the latch on the side forth and back. She held her breath and aimed carefully. Just as her trigger finger pressed in, Havoc snuck up behind her and whacked her firmly on the butt with is cane. She squeaked and squeezed the trigger in surprise. The rifle bucked up and the bullet grazed the wooden figure’s head and smacked into the concrete wall.

The girl jumped up and whirled on Havoc, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. “Daddy!” Jessica complained. “You made me miss my shot!”

Havoc smacked her hip lightly with his cane. “Then stop ‘testing’ the merchandise! Those rifles are for the local Military Police! If they cancel our contract because we’re sending them ‘used goods.’ You’ll be the one I send out to lobby for a new contract with someone else.”

Jessica pouted, rubbing her butt. “You didn’t have to smack me on the ass! Who are you? General Grumman!?”

“It’s your fault you got your mother’s figure,” Havoc grinned, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. “Now come on. We’ve got work to do.”

Jessica jumped to her feet and snatched the cigarette from his mouth. She threw it to the ground and stomped on it. “I told you to stop smoking! I don’t want you dying before I get married! Even more so, I don’t want my father walking me down the aisle smelling like an ash tray!”

Havoc smiled and turned to walk back. “Alright, alright. I’ll try harder.”

“Yoo hoo! Jeanie! You’ll never guess who walked in!” Rebecca popped her head out the back door.

“Is it Breda?”

“Nope!”

“Falman?”

“Nuh uh!”

“Furey?”

“Guess again!”

A vein popped in his forehead. He growled. “ _Mustang_.”

Rebecca giggled and slipped back inside. Jessica laughed as she followed her stomping, fuming father back to the store. He looked like an old man, swinging his cane about.

“Oh come on, Daddy! Uncle Roy isn’t that bad!”

“Says you and every other female on this God given green earth!”

“Except for Mom and General Armstrong.”

“Exactly!”

Jessica laughed again, opening the door for her father.

“God dammit, Roy, what do you want? I’m busy!” However, Havoc stopped cold when he saw not Roy, but Joshua accompanied by two very familiar girls.

Joshua grinned. “Sorry. Wrong Mustang.”

Havoc palmed his forehead and laughed uproariously. “Well, well. Never would I expect you to walk in here.” He looked at the girls behind Joshua and laughed again. “What, did you go and invent a time machine this time, Fullmetal?”

Trisha growled and clenched her fist. “I will trip you with your cane old man!”

Once more, Havoc laughed. “Hey, come on. I had to tease you a little, didn’t I? I’ve only seen pictures of you two. Gosh, you guys grew fast. Have those two been feeding you guys fertilizer?”

Nina poked Trisha’s arm. “See, Sister? He called you tall?”

“Growing isn’t always equal to height,” Trisha mumbled.

Havoc grinned and turned to his daughter. “Jessie, could you help your mom with the overstock? Try and cut down on some of that milk in the fridge. I don’t want it spoiling. We pay top dollar for that stuff.”

“Sure.” Jessica grinned at Joshua before turning to head to the back. “Hey, Josh. Found a girlfriend yet?”

Joshua gave a tight grin that looked more like a sneer. “And what about you, Jess? Found a boyfriend yet?”

Jessica stuck her tongue out and closed one eye. “Maybe~” She sang before trotting to the back.

“Friend of yours?” Trisha raised her eyebrow at Joshua.

“Childhood friend. More like an annoying younger sister,” Joshua sighed.

“You two always squabbled. It was fun to watch at least,” Havoc led them out a side door to a house that was attached to the general store. It led straight into a sitting room. Havoc sat back in a recliner and tapped the couch in front of him with his cane. “So, what can I do for you kids?”

Joshua pulled out his father’s research journal from his jacket pocket. “This.”

Havoc’s eyes widened and he took the journal from Joshua. “This is…” He turned it over in his hands and cracked it open. “How did you get this?!”

“I… borrowed it.”

Havoc looked up at Joshua in both surprise and horror. “You _stole_ Roy’s research?”

Joshua pointed at Trisha. “She made me. She’s a bad influence. She took her own father’s research.”

Trisha scowled at Joshua and punched him. This time with her metal hand.

“You _stole_ **Edwards’** research? Do both of you have death wishes?”

“He didn’t need it! He can’t do alchemy anymore!”

Havoc shook his head. “You two…” Suddenly he looked over to Nina.

Nina held her hands up. “I am a victim, not an accomplice.”

“Nina, you traitor,” Trisha pouted.

“Well, since you have this, I can only assume that you’re here about information. Damn bastard. Coding his research with his romantic adventures.”

“Can you help us? _Will_ you help us?” Joshua asked.

“I suppose I could. After all, I remember everything about Mustang and his damn womanizing. Considering he stole half of the women he was with from me.” Havoc then cut off Joshua and Trisha’s celebrating by saying, “I just hope this is worth it for you guys. Especially you, Joshua.”

Joshua swallowed hard, looking at the journal in Havoc’s hands. Havoc didn’t even give him a chance to back out. He turned the journal to the first page and started reading. When his memory was refreshed, he started talking. Trisha pulled out a notebook and pencil and started taking notes, only interrupting Havoc to ask questions or request more detail on a specific event. The more Havoc spoke and the more questions Trisha asked, Joshua realized where Trisha was going with it. She was matching up dates and locations of Mustang’s romantic adventures with corresponding dates and locations of Mustang’s research; i.e. where he discovered something or what date it was on, or even who he had a date with when he discovered it. And judging from Havoc’s recollections, details of certain dates were completely fudged. Trisha realized that the journal was filled with dead ends. It took them the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening in order to get everything they needed to decode Mustang’s research. They only stopped to eat dinner with Havoc, Rebecca and Jessica. Afterwards, Trisha plopped herself down on the floor in front of the coffee table and spread everything out in front of her. It took her a mere two and a half hours to break the code, copying down only important parts—things that might relate to Mustang’s flame alchemy and parts that Trisha deemed potentially important for conquering her own father’s research. Nina, Joshua, Havoc and even Jessica and Rebecca sat around the sitting room while Trisha worked her magic, watching her, in Jessica’s words, “kick the journal’s ass.”

When she was done, she put her pencil down and looked up at Joshua. Her expression was disappointed.

“Nothing?” Joshua’s eyes widened.

“Not one bit. The only things that he mentioned about his Flame alchemy was ideas and hypotheses on different ways to use it and other means of using it in battle and what not.”

“There’s nothing on how it works? _Nothing_? Not even a snippet?”

Trisha shook her head. “He hid it well. Mustang is officially the only one who knows how to use it. He wanted to prevent anyone else from becoming a Flame alchemist, and he sure did a damn good job of achieving that goal. Hawkeye’s tattoo is burned, leaving a chunk of her father’s research destroyed. According to this journal, Master Hawkeye burned his materials after transferring the most important parts—the mechanics and elements necessary for Flame alchemy—over to his daughter’s tattoo. Mustang learned his Flame alchemy from that tattoo, and then Miss Riza made him burn it off. After that, Mustang researched Flame alchemy to the best of his abilities and knowledge, and then burned his own research as well. Mustang is literally the only one who knows anything about that form of alchemy. The only way you’re going to learn Flame alchemy is from him, Joshua.”

“Ashes,” Joshua said, barely above a whisper. He held his pocket watch in his hand, fingers curled around it, clenching it tight. “The whole damned thing is a trail of ashes.”

Havoc tried to light a cigarette only to have Jessie blow out the lighter flame before it reached the rolled tobacco. He looked to his daughter with a grin, who smirked back at him. “I know what you’re trying to do, Joshua, though I don’t understand why. What I do understand is that Mustang’s Flame alchemy is just as dangerous as he made it out to be. Most of us have seen it firsthand, especially those of us closest to him. Riza herself has seen more than her fair share of destruction by that alchemy. And if your dad doesn’t think you’re ready for it, then you probably aren’t.”

Joshua placed his pocket watch back in his pocket and started gathering up all of Trisha’s materials into a neat pile.

“And what about your alchemy?” Havoc went on. “I’ve heard that yours is pretty impressive.”

“What _is_ your alchemy, Joshua?” Nina asked out of genuine curiosity.

“It’s a cheap knockoff,” was Joshua’s only reply.

“That’s not what I’ve heard. And that’s sure not what Mustang says about it.”

“He’s only saying that because I’m his son,” he gritted his teeth, shoving the materials and the journal into his bag. “Put mine up against his and his all-consuming flame would swallow my phoenix whole.”

Havoc suddenly whacked Joshua on the back of the head with his cane. “Don’t degrade yourself or your talents kid. Mustang may be an asshole sometimes, but he’s not a liar. And of the lies he has told, they were for good reasons. Damn good reasons. Roy would _never_ lie about you.”

Joshua sighed and shook his head. He turned to Havoc and stuck his hand out. “Thanks for your help, Havoc.”

Havoc smiled and shook his hand. “No problem. I hope you find peace in all of this.” Havoc showed them out after Trisha packed up the rest of her stuff. Nina bowed to Jessica and Rebecca. At the door, Havoc grinned down at Trisha and scuffed her hair. “Tell that punk Fullmetal I said hey.”

Trisha pouted up at him, fixing up her hair. “Call him and tell him yourself! I can give you my family’s number.”

“No way in hell!” Havoc laughed. “I’ve had enough of that kid to last me the rest of my life.”

Trisha smiled at the thought of her “punk” father. “He was a handful, wasn’t he?”

“Like you could never imagine,” Havoc smiled.

Trisha laughed. “Thanks, Havoc.”

“No problem. Now go away! Let me enjoy my retirement in peace!”

The three of them ran off when he brandished his cane at them.

 

 

The first thing Joshua thought about was the files he kept from Trisha. The second thing he thought about was the possibility that maybe, just maybe, the prodigy Fullmetal Alchemist figured out his father’s alchemy and never told him. But as soon as he thought of what cracking Edward Elric’s code would entail, he seriously considered if finding out if Trisha’s father knew anything about Flame alchemy was worth the girls’ suffering. However, Trisha was already dead set on reading the files. He couldn’t keep them from her once they were back at his home.

“I’m going to return my dad’s journal. I’ll be back in a little bit,” Joshua plucked out the journal from his bag.

“Okay. We’ll be here reading.”

Trisha was silent, already buried in the files, reading. Joshua grinded his teeth and sighed before turning to walk out the door. The walk to the mansion was slow and agonizing even though he walked at his normal speed. The whole way he either worried about Nina and Trisha or shuddered in anxiety from what his father’s reaction would be when he gave him back his journal. Eventually his thoughts brought him to the family mansion. He stood inside, looking up at the high ceiling.

“Master Joshua?”

Joshua looked down to find Alfred looking at him with concern. “Where’s my dad?”

“He is in his study.”

“Perfect,” he said halfheartedly, making his way there.

When he arrived at the door inside the library, he took several deep breaths. Somewhere in the back of the library he could hear Sheska talking to herself as she organized and placed books on the shelves. Eventually, he reached out for the doorknob and twisted. Inside, his father was sitting at his desk doing paperwork. It wasn’t until he closed the door behind him that he said anything.

“I figured you’d be back.”

“Of course you did.” It wasn’t a sarcastic tone. He knew very well that his father would figure him out.

“So, did you decipher it?”

“Yeah,” Joshua said, pulling the journal out of his coat pocket. He tossed it onto the desk.

Mustang picked it up and held it in his hands. “I’m impressed.”

“Actually, I didn’t do the bulk of the work. I just pitched in ideas and led us to a source. Trisha did all the hard work. Can’t say I’m proud of it though, letting her do most of the work. In the grand scheme of it, I just rode her coat tails.”

Mustang hummed. “Still… However, it upsets me that you would go so far as to look through my things just to figure out the secret to flame alchemy rather than be patient and wait until I decide you’re ready.”

Joshua grinded his teeth, irked. “And when will that be? Huh? When I’m twenty five? Thirty? When I’m a Colonel? Yeah, that’ll be the day. I tried that route through the State Alchemist exam, and what did you do? You locked me in place! And what do you mean ‘look through your things’? You’re the one who hid it in my room!”

Mustang’s black eyes burned him like a pair of hot branding forks. “That doesn’t matter. And if you’re so desperate to get your hands on flame alchemy that you would lie, steal and cheat for it, then you’ll never be ready nor suited to wield it. It’s because of people like you that’s the reason Master Hawkeye burned his research. Ideals like that are the reason your mother had me burn her back. She gave me the secret because she trusted me. If you can’t earn my trust, then you’ll never be the next flame alchemist. The secret will die with me.”

Joshua slammed his hands down on Mustang’s desk, leaning over to look him in the eyes. “That’s not going to happen.”

He raised back up and turned his back on his father. He left without another word. He stormed through the mansion back to the front doors. He threw them open then slammed them behind him. With as heated as he was, it took him half the time to get home. He didn’t go inside right away. He sat on the front steps and cooled off for about five minutes. After that, he stood up with a sigh and went inside. The first thing he saw was the mess of papers and files scattered across the coffee table and on the floor. The second thing was that Nina was passed out on the couch, her face soaked with tears. Trisha was nowhere to be found.

Sighing once more, he moved over to the couch where Nina slept. “I knew this was going to happen.”

He picked the sleeping girl up bridal style and moved her into his bedroom. Laying her gently on his bed, he pulled the covers over her. The tear tracks on her face bugged him endlessly, but he knew if he tried to wipe her face with a damp cloth she would wake up, so he just let her sleep.

Suddenly the sickening sound of retching came from the bathroom.

“Trisha?” Joshua raced to the bathroom and pushed the door open.

Sure enough, Trisha was bent over the toilet, her hands bracing herself on the sink and the wall. His hands shot out towards her long hair, gathering all he could in his hands then moving her bangs back. When her retches were reduced to dry heaves, he released her hair and pulled a wash cloth out of the bathroom closet. He ran it under the cold water and gently pulled her upright. Her hands shook as she pushed her hair out of her face.

“Hey,” he said as he wiped her face. He wasn’t sure of what to say. She wouldn’t look at him.

“You read it, didn’t you? The files?”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

He wasn’t prepared for her tears. He definitely wasn’t prepared for her deep, bone shaking sobs. She sobbed so hard she barely breathed in between them, and he worried she would suffocate herself. She buried her face in her hands. He expected Nina to cry, but Trisha? He didn’t like Trisha crying any more than he liked the higher ups in the military calling him Roy Mustang Jr. On the contrary, he liked it even less. Like their taunts, he wanted it to stop. But he didn’t know how, so he did what he thought was instinctual and gently pulled her into his chest. To his surprise, she let him hold her. In fact she pressed into him further, and in response his arms tightened around her. Eventually she couldn’t even stand. Instead of struggling to keep her upright, he just slid to the floor with her, his back leaned against the wall. Her hands pulled away from her face only to wrap her arms around his neck.

After what seemed like forever, her sobbing subsided. She untangled her arms from around his neck and wiped her face, resting her head on his shoulder. He brushed her hair out of her face.

“The Philosopher’s Stone…”

“I know,” he said quietly.

“Whole countries of people… just for that.”

“I thought you knew all about that?”

Trisha shook her head. “No. Dad watered down the stories he told me and my brother. Even when we asked for a scary story, the stories he gave us were vague and undetailed. He did a good job of telling us what we needed to know without making it a horrorfest. And even now that I know a lot more, I finally realize just how little I knew about his life.”

“I felt the same. My dad told me some stuff, but not a whole lot. There were files in there on my dad and his group. The stuff in there was… I couldn’t even imagine.”

Trisha wiped her eyes again. “I told Charity that if it wasn’t for my father none of us would be here. I had no idea just what that meant. I said it, I thought I knew what it meant, but the truth was so much more horrifying. And my mother. She would have been stuck in that thing, waiting to be used up as energy. And that guy wouldn’t have stopped at Xerxes and Amestris. Xing, Creta, Drachma. No, that’s not right. Amestris was created for the purpose of becoming a Philosopher’s Stone. They would have just created another country on top of Amestris’ ruins. Either that or found some other unclaimed land and rebuilt on top of that.”

“Now do you see why I didn’t want you to read the files?” He told her as he pushed her hair back again.

Trisha nodded. “The Philosopher’s Stone and human alchemy… Things like those never should have existed in the first place. I know it’s Yin and Yang. Where there is light, there must also be darkness, and where there is darkness there must also be light. But that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t exist. The only drawback is keeping things as powerful and harmful as those from coming to light.”

“Some things just can’t be stopped.

“I disagree. After all, Dad and Uncle Al and even your father all helped to stop the homunculi from destroying Amestris and turning the people into energy for that bastard. And now, I’ll do everything in my power to keep knowledge of human alchemy and the philosopher’s stone from spreading and creating more hellish events like that one.”

Joshua chuckled. “Sounds like you’ve found your true purpose.”

Trisha smiled slightly. “Yeah, I guess I have.” She stood up, bracing herself on the wall. “I’ll destroy everything I can find on human alchemy and the Stone.”

Joshua stood up as well, shaking his legs to get the blood flowing again. “Then I suggest using your new found knowledge to decipher your dad’s travelogue. After all, I’m sure your dad didn’t put everything he knew in those reports. What wasn’t in the files has to be in that journal.”

Trisha nodded. “Agreed.” Suddenly she blinked and turned to Joshua. She noticed his shirt from the shoulder to the middle of his chest was tear soaked. She flushed and turned away. “S-sorry.”

Joshua looked down at his shirt. “Eh, it’s just water and salt essentially,” he grinned at her.

Trisha pouted and smacked his chest. “It’s still embarrassing. Ugh. I can’t believe I did that. Allan is right. I’m a crybaby like my mom.”

“It’s okay to cry,” he shrugged.

Trisha smiled slightly again. “Thank you.”

Joshua pushed off of the wall and pulled her into a hug. “No problem.”

To her surprise, Trisha hugged him back. She found her ear over his heart. Furthermore, she found that she loved the sound of his heartbeat. It was strong and she could almost hear the rush of blood it pumped to every part of his body. His chest warmed her face. She could feel his chin on the top of her head and she realized how perfectly her head fit under his chin. Her fingers sprawled out against his broad back. In her head, she calculated how tall he was. She was five feet even. And he only had to lower his chin a couple of centimeters to lay it on the top of her head. The estimated him to be about five-ten or five-eleven. The thought of the obvious height difference didn’t irritate her like she expected. Rather it made her more aware of how his arms surrounded her. She found she liked the feeling a lot more than she probably should have.

She coughed and pulled away. “Where’s Nina?”

“Asleep. I put her in my bed. I couldn’t leave her on the couch. Bad for her neck and back.”

“Thoughtful of you,” Trisha said genuinely as she walked out of the bathroom. She rounded the corner and pushed open the door to Joshua’s bedroom. Nina was still fast asleep. She frowned. “She cried herself to sleep after reading about Nina Tucker. I’ve never seen her cry so hard.”

Joshua patted her shoulder. “You can sleep in there with her. It’ll be good for her to wake up with you next to her.”

Trisha turned to look up at him. “Where will you sleep?”

“On the couch,” he said as if it were obvious.

“Says the person who just said sleeping on a couch is bad for the neck and back.”

He only grinned. “I’ll tough it out.” He patted her shoulder again. “Get some sleep.”

“Right. Good night.”

The bedroom door was closed before he got the words out. “Night, Trisha.”

Trisha didn’t even bother undressing. She slid right into the huge bed next to Nina. The sudden movement jarred Nina awake.

“Sister?”

“Sorry. Go back to sleep,” Trisha settled down into the pillow.

“You okay?”

“Asks the person who cried herself to sleep.” When Nina didn’t respond, Trisha sighed. “I discovered something.”

“What’s that?”

Trisha smiled so widely it hurt her cheeks. “Tall people _give_ the best hugs. And short people _get_ the best hugs.”

To Trisha’s surprise, Nina smiled. “You liiiike him~”

Trisha blushed. “Maybe.”

“Definitely.” Nina rolled over, still smiling. “I knew it.”

Trisha couldn’t help but smile too. She buried her nose in Joshua’s pillow and breathed in the smell of city air, his aftershave and fire smoke. She decided she liked that too.

 

 

Charity didn’t like the smell of Central. It smelled like oil, gasoline and several other things. It was nothing like the crisp, clean air of the country side. It smelled nothing like Gloria. After getting off the train, she made a beeline to the nearest civilian library and stayed inside. After a long, thorough look through, she pulled everything the library had on human alchemy, which wasn’t much.

“This doesn’t help at all,” her disappointment was obvious.

“If you’re trying to solve a problem, library books aren’t the best way to do it.”

The accent of the man who spoke to her was thick. When she looked up she found he was tall with long black hair and dark eyes. He was dressed like an Amestrian, but the manner in which he carried himself was definitely not Amestrian.

“So, why are you researching such a topic, young one?”

Charity glared at him, closing the books and her notebook. “None of your business.”

“Don’t fret,” the man sat down across from her. “I won’t report you. I have no interest in helping the military catch wrongdoers. I’m just curious.”

Charity squeezed her metal feet together. “I messed up. I couldn’t bring my sister back, and in the end I ended up hurting someone else dear to me.”

“Tragic,” the man frowned. He laced his hands and placed his chin on them, looking down at the books on human alchemy. “How about I help you?”

“Help me? How can you help me?”

“When you fail, you only open doors for your experiments. Failure isn’t the end of scientific thought. It’s the beginning. Failure tells you what doesn’t work and narrows down the possibilities, making it easier for you to figure out what does work. The only way to get there is through further research and experimentation.”

“You’re a scientist?” Charity tilted her head, her eyes curious.

“Yes. And so I’ll make a deal with you.” He pulled out a slip of paper and a stack of documents about a centimeter thick. “There are some alchemic files and notes rumored to be in this city. Find them for me, and I will give you all the resources you need to continue your research and conduct experiments.”

“Yes,” Charity said without any thought.

The man blinked in surprise. “Careful. This is not something you can back out of.”

“Yes,” Charity said again.

Now the man smiled. “Good. Very good.” He pushed the papers towards her. “This is all the information about the files that I have gathered. The slip of paper on top has the name and location of a possible lead as to where you can find these files.”

Charity picked up the folded piece of paper and opened it up. Her eyes grew exponentially and she looked up at the man who’s expression hadn’t changed. “Who are you?”

“You may call me Jun for now.” He stood up and handed her another piece of paper. “Call me at this number when you have investigated the lead.”

Charity continued to sit in the library for quite some time after Jun left. Maybe she shouldn’t have said yes so quickly. But when she weighted the two options, it was obvious which was more important.

“Gloria…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jean and Rebecca, sitting in a tree~ Lol I was reading Havoc's profile on fullmetalalchemist.wikia.com and I remembered he and Rebecca were kind of a thing, so then I got the idea for Jessica (who may be a returning supporting character) and I just HAD to do it. lol I like Jessica a lot. She's all kinds of hilarious.
> 
> Jessica Havoc's voice is Laura Bailey.... kinda ironic I know, but I was thinking more of between Maka Albarn and Lust. Rather than just straight Lust... that was really deep. @@
> 
> Also, things have changed since I first wrote this chapter over on Fanfiction.net, so if the tone of some things are different, that's why.


	12. The Lost Research

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio runs into major trouble which results in a relocation. Joshua gets a frightening reminder of a grudge he'd rather forget about. Meanwhile, the three of them try to track down information on the person responsible for their problems.

**_The Lost Research_ **

 

            Two months had passed since they first read the files on the Elric Brothers and King Bradley and the Homunculi’s reign. Joshua was out inspecting one of the labs on orders from Mustang, and Nina and Trisha were doing research at the New Central City Library by permission from Joshua. Currently they were researching recorded attempts of human transmutation as well as reports of missing materials on human alchemy. In the past two months, Trisha and Nina had only been able to make a small dent in the travelogue. If they thought Mustang’s code was difficult to crack, the Fullmetal Alchemist’s was like reading ancient Xerxean.

            “Ugh. To think that Dad was a genius at coding and I’m a genius at _decoding_. I guess if there’s one person who can crack it, it would be me,” Trisha sighed, laying her head on her crossed arms. “Then again, Dad was genius at everything.”

            Nina hummed, smiling at Trisha as she leaned her head against her hand.

            “You’re not thinking about Dad’s research at all, are you?” Trisha raised an eyebrow at her. Nina’s smile widened. “So when are you going to tell him?”

            Trisha shot upright and slammed her hands down on top of the scattered books and files. “Don’t say stuff like that! Dad would kill me if he ever found out! No way in hell could I ever tell Joshua!” She slumped down in her chair, crossing her arms. “Besides, why would he like a shrimpy girl like me? I barely come up to his collarbone. He probably likes tall curvy girls.”

            “Hmmm. I don’t think it matters for him. After all, if he didn’t like you, why would he comfort you? Maybe he likes short girls. Maybe he thinks they’re lighter and easy to carry. And you’re curvy too. Your boobs are bigger than mine.”

            Trisha smacked Nina’s hands away before she could raise them to grope her own chest. “Stop that! And yes, I may be well endowed, but imagine how much more beautiful I’d be if I were tall.”

            “I thought you said short people get the best hugs,” Nina laughed.

            “They do,” Trisha slumped down again. “But they’re also easily overlooked.”

            “Sis, you’re anything but overlooked. Especially by Joshua.”

            Trisha sighed. “He’s Roy Mustang’s son. His dad was a womanizer. I’d rather not gamble on genetics. We both know how that works.” Trisha picked up her pencil and went back to her books.

            Nina just continued to smile. “I think you two make a cute couple.”

            Trisha groaned.

            A while later, Joshua arrived at the library to pick them up. Together they walked back home. Trisha was mildly irritated by Nina’s attempts to put her next to Joshua, but her irritation was overwhelmed by Joshua’s presence which made her neck and ears unbearably warm. Nina giggled, causing Joshua to look over at them with raised eyebrows.

            “You two are awfully giggly today,” Joshua pointed out, amused by their playing around.

            “I am not giggly. Nina is giggly.” Trisha shoved Nina’s shoulder. “And pushy!”

            Nina shoved her back, almost knocking her into Joshua’s side. “ _Tell him!”_ She said in Xingese.

            “No!”

            Joshua shook his head, rolling his eyes. “Okay then.”

            Trisha grumbled, looking anywhere except for at Joshua or Nina. And in doing so, she looked through the window of a clothing store. That’s when she saw it. She gasped loudly and broke formation to run over to the window. She pressed her nose to the glass. It was a white, waist length jacket with black lining and black stripes down the shoulders to the wrists. The lining and rims of the pockets were black as well. It had a raised collar and a belt around the bottom. It was exactly like what she had been looking for since she sent back her dad’s red coat. When she saw the price her eyes went wide. Automatically, she turned to Joshua.

            “Josh—“

            “No!”

            “But!”

            “No way!”

            “Come on! You’re the only one that has money! Please! I need a jacket like this!”

            “No, you _want_ a jacket like that. I’m sure you have tons of jackets.”

            “But not like this.”

            “Wah, cry me a river.”

            “Please please please?!”

            “Nooooo!”

            She turned around fully and clasped her hands. She jutted her bottom lip out and willed her eyes to start watering. Soon she could make out the distinct fluttering of his jaw muscles and she knew he was grinding his teeth. Nina giggled again but Trisha ignored her. She kept up her puppy dog face.

            “Ugh! How much is it?”

            “It’s the thought that matters,” Trisha replied quickly.

            Joshua narrowed his eyes. “How much, Trisha?”

            She bit her lip. “3606 Sen,” she said quickly. ($30)

            “What?! For a jacket! You’re out of your mind!” Joshua was about to go on when he felt a stabbing in his side. He looked to see Nina rocking back and forth on her heels. He sighed and pulled out his wallet.

            Trisha squealed loudly and ran into the store. The clerk working there had it out of the window before Joshua even entered the store. Nina smiled widely, thinking of the stories her papa told her about her Uncle and Aunt. Uncle Edward would always end up buying things for Aunt Winry. Joshua and Trisha reminded her of them. After the jacket was paid for and neatly packed in a paper bag, they walked out and resumed their trip home, Joshua glaring at his wallet and Trisha vice grip hugging the bag with the jacket. At least Trisha thanked him about a thousand times on the way back—this was what Joshua tried to tell himself as they made it home.

            Joshua was about to insert his key into the deadbolt when he paused.

            Nina blinked. “What’s wrong?”

            Joshua said nothing as he inspected the locks. They were faint, but he noticed alchemic marks around the door and the lock, as well as the lock on the doorknob. His brows knitted together in irritation.

            “You’ve got to be kidding!”

            “What? What is it?” Trisha asked as well, snapping out of dreamland.

            “Someone broke into my house.” This was confirmed by him pushing on the door. It swung open without any resistance.

            “Was anything taken?”

            Joshua did a thorough look over of his house, checking everything. At first it seemed as though the burglar had broken in and then left without taking anything. However, it was only until he finished his inspection that he looked at the coffee table and realized what was missing.

            “Oh no…” Joshua felt his insides fall to his feet.

            “What?!”

            “The files… the files are gone.”

            Trisha dropped her bag and ran to the coffee table. She fell to her knees and looked underneath it. “No, that’s impossible! They’ve got to be here somewhere!”

            “They’re not. I left them in a stack on the coffee table when we left. They’re not there now, so they’re gone.”

            “But who would have taken them?! Did anyone see you take them when you took them from the file room?!”

            “No… I don’t think so.”

            “You don’t _think_ so?!”

            “Look, I was more concerned with getting out of there! I wasn’t paying attention!” Joshua sighed and shook his head. “What about the notes and your father’s journal?”

            “Thankfully I locked those up before we left.” Trisha went to the roll-top desk and revealed the safe. She spun in the combination Joshua gave her and opened it up. The notes and the journal were both sitting safely inside. She closed it up again.

            “Good,” Joshua nodded.

            “Guys… don’t you think we should tell Mustang?” Nina pointed out.

            “Are you nuts? He’ll kill us!” Trisha panicked.

            “No, she’s right. We have to tell him,” Joshua groaned.

            With reluctant fingers, Joshua picked up the receiver of his phone. He spun in the number to his father’s office. Two rings later, the military operator picked up and asked him for his military code. After giving her the code, the line clicked and rang once more. Three rings and his father picked up.

            “This better be good. I’ve got a ton of work to finish.”

            “The files are gone,” Joshua said to the point.

            “Come again?”

            “About two months ago, I took some files from the file room near your office. Specifically the ones filled with reports by Edward Elric and everything concerning King Bradley and the Homunculi. I took all of it.” Joshua bit his lip and forced out the words. “And now those files have been stolen.”

            Mustang sighed heavily through the receiver and he could hear a pen dropping on the desk. “Any idea who took them?”

            Joshua blinked, surprised that the expected berating had not come. “No. Only that they’re an alchemist. They used alchemy to unlock my door.”

            “Get out of Central. All three of you. Tonight.”

            “What?” Joshua stared at the receiver as if it were his father standing there.

            “If those files are in bad hands, and they don’t find what they’re looking for in those files, they might come after you three, especially since your last names are Mustang and Elric.”

            “But—“

            “Now, Joshua. Catch the earliest train you can out of here. I don’t care where. Once you’re there, call me and tell me where you are. We’ll talk more then.”

            “Alright.”

            “Keep me posted,” were his last words before Mustang hung up.

            Joshua replaced the receiver and turned to Trisha and Nina. “Anywhere in particular you want to go?”

            “Rush Valley,” Trisha answered. “My brother sent me a letter telling me to come in for maintenance and what not.”

            “Then we’ll go there.” Joshua made his way to the bedroom. “Pack your stuff. My dad wants us out of Central as soon as possible.”

            Nina smiled at Trisha. “At least we get to see Allan.”

            Trisha whined and grabbed her head. “I have a headache already.”

            Nina laughed. “Hey, at least your automail hasn’t had a chance to get busted yet.”

            “If Allan heard you say ‘yet’ he’d whack us both.”

 

 

            Hours later, the three got off the train in Rush Valley. Both Trisha and Joshua looked less than thrilled however.

            “You know, I like Rush Valley, but I like it less knowing my brother could be lurking anywhere around here,” Trisha groaned. She glanced over at Joshua. “But what about you? Why do you have the long face?”

            “I… I remembered something on the train…” Joshua looked downright sick.

            “Huh? Did you forget something?”

            “Yes, but not in the way that you think,” he shuddered. “I’m not surprised you don’t remember, but… I’m sure he remembers just fine.”

            “Ehhh?” Trisha narrowed her eyes at him. “Speak sense.”

            “You mean Trisha’s brother?” Nina blinked up at him. When Joshua didn’t say anything, she asked, “You know Allan?”

            Joshua swallowed hard as they made their way to the automail shop. “Let’s just say he doesn’t like me very much.”

            Trisha’s scowl deepened. “How the hell do you know my brother?”

            “Like I said, I’m not surprised you don’t remember. You were still kind of young.” He looked to the side, away from Trisha’s burning stare, demanding more details. “Let’s just say I wasn’t that nice when I was younger. A bit of a jerk really.”

            “You sure grew out of it,” Nina giggled.

            “Thankfully,” Trisha and Joshua both said with very different tones.

            “Either way, you’re on my brother’s bad side, huh?” Trisha shook her head and grinned. “I guess I’m lucky this time. Maybe I won’t be the one getting clonked on the head.”

            “You’re cruel,” Joshua’s frown deepened.

            By the time they reached the shop, Trisha was cackling. “Man. I’m gonna love the look on his face.”

            “Uh, maybe I’ll just stay out here. Better yet, I’ll go find us an inn to stay at.”

            Joshua turned around to leave, however once he did, the front door of the store slammed open. A callused hand grabbed Joshua by his collar and yanked him back. Joshua coughed and choked as the collar of his shirt dug into his throat. He was thrown to the floor on his back. Joshua groaned and rubbed the back of his head. When he looked up, he was met with the piercing golden eyes of Allan Elric. His short blonde hair fell around his face and feathered at the back. He wore a short sleeved black shirt with the sleeves rolled up into a tank top. His pants were gray and his boots were black. Luckily he didn’t have anything in his hands, yet his fists were large enough to do damage.

            “Holy crap…” Joshua blanched as he looked up at Allan. “You got tall…”

            “And you obviously grew a pair,” Allan’s voice was deep and gravely. He took a step forward towards Joshua. “Cause you’ve got to have a big set of brass ones to walk into this shop, especially accompanied by my baby sister.”

            Joshua held up his hands, shielding his face. “N-no! It’s not what you think!”

            Allan reached down and grabbed Joshua by his shirt, pulling him up so his face was only an inch from his. He held up his free hand in a fist. “Then you’d better start explaining before I knock your teeth in!”

            “Brother wait!” Trisha pulled on the back of Allan’s shirt, but he didn’t budge.

            Allan stood up, releasing Joshua, causing him to fall painfully back to the floor, and turned around, towering over Trisha. She squeaked then cried out as he lifted her up into the air by her coat. “Why the hell are you running around with Mustang’s son?”

            “I’m not running around with him!” Then she flushed and looked away from her brother’s stern gaze. “Ok, maybe I am. But I need him!”

            “You need him?!” A vein popped in his forehead.

            “Not like that! I meant he’s a vital resource!”

            “Resource!?” Joshua exclaimed, picking himself up off the floor. “Is that what I am?!”

            Allan turned and glared at Joshua. “I don’t know. _Are you_?”

            Joshua swallowed hard and nodded quickly. “Y-yes! I am! A vital, very important resource! Encyclopedic, really!”

            Allan growled and turned back to Trisha whom he still held in the air. “Are you dating him?”

            Trisha died a little inside and Joshua sputtered behind Allan. Nina giggled in a corner as she watched them. “Are you insane?! No I’m not dating him!”             “Allan,” Nina laughed. “If you calm down for a moment, please, we can explain.”

            Allan looked over to Nina then sighed and placed his sister on her feet. Trisha sighed in relief, as did Joshua. Allan turned and lifted up a part of the shop counter. “Let’s go in the back. Derrick and Sean are out getting supplies.”

            He led them back to what appeared to be a waiting room. Trisha and Nina sat together. Joshua went to sit down next to Trisha, however Allan growled and shoved him in the chest to the opposite end of the room.

            “ _You_ sit over _there_.”

            Joshua sighed but did as Allan wished. Allan sat across from the girls. “So what’s going on?”

            Trisha swallowed hard and scratched her cheek. “Um… well. See, the thing is—“

            “She stole Uncle Ed’s research,” Nina deadpanned, giving Trisha a look.

            “You did _what_?!”

            “Nina!”

            Allan narrowed his eyes at Trisha. “Why would you do something so stupid?”

            Trisha held up her hands. “I didn’t ‘steal’ it! I borrowed it!”

            “And did you ask Dad if you could ‘borrow’ his research?”

            “Er… Not exactly. But I’m going to give it back!” When Allan’s gaze narrowed further she cleared her throat. “Anyway, Joshua was able to get Dad’s reports to Mustang out of the restricted file room.”

            “Impressive,” Allan gave Joshua the same look. Joshua crossed his arms and averted his gaze, a tense look on his face.

            “We were out for the day, and when we came back, Joshua’s place had been broken into by an unknown alchemist,” Trisha continued.

            Allan snapped his head back, his eyes wide. “Trisha! Do _not_ tell me they took Dad’s journal!”

            Once again Trisha held up her hands. She shook her head. “N-no! Don’t worry! Dad’s research was locked up.”

Allan sighed in relief. “Then what did they take?”

“They took the reports,” Trisha bit her lip. “Ow!” She exclaimed when Allan fished a metal nut out of his pocket and flicked it into her forehead. “Hey, how were we supposed to know Joshua’s house is a target!?”

“It wasn’t a target until you had me take those files,” Joshua muttered. Allan flicked a nut into his forehead as well. “Ow! Why me?!”

“Cause I felt like it,” Allan turned back to Trisha. “So you’re here tracking them down?”

Trisha shook her head. “No. Mustang sent us out of Central so we wouldn’t become a target if the person who took the reports doesn’t find what they’re looking for in them.”

Allan nodded, putting a hand to his chin. “Smart. In any case, there’s not much you can do. When my bosses get back I’ll ask them if you two can stay here.” Joshua cleared his throat loudly. Allan rolled his eyes. “Ugh. Fine. I’ll ask if you can stay here too.”

Trisha jumped up and headed for the door. “Well, I’m starved! I’m heading out to get some grub! Bye!”

Allan shot up and grabbed her by the coat as she zoomed past. “No you don’t! Not yet!”

“Eep!” Trisha squealed as she was dragged back.

“You’re due for a checkup,” Allan hoisted her up onto his shoulder and carried her out and down the hall.

“Oh, come on! I just got here! Allan! This isn’t fair!”

“Life isn’t fair.”

Nina laughed and Joshua sighed, thinking to himself that he hoped they didn’t have to stay in Rush Valley any longer than he wanted to, which wasn’t very long.

 

 

Trisha grumbled as Allan unscrewed parts of her arm, checking them, running his hands over them, greasing them down and reattaching them. He measured the length of her arm and fingers in proportion to her flesh and blood arm. Trisha was just happy he hadn’t detached it. She really didn’t want to go through the pain of the reattachment.

Allan was silent as he worked. This gave Trisha the opportunity to lose herself in her thoughts. The first thing she thought of was Charity. What was she doing? How was she doing? Why did Trisha even care in the first place? The thought occurred to Trisha that she didn’t even know Charity’s last name. What was it? She found herself going down a long list of common last names in her mind, attaching them to her first name like pieces of a puzzle.

“Who are you thinking about?” Allan piped up suddenly.

Trisha scowled. Nothing got past Allan. “No one.”

“So it is someone,” he nodded. Trisha scowled further. Allan narrowed his eyes. “Who is it? Don’t tell me it’s Joshua.”

Trisha flushed and growled at Allan. “It’s not Joshua!” She sighed and frowned. “I was thinking about Charity…”

Allan sighed and went back to work. “Charity’s family friend called in an automail specialist from here in Rush Valley a few weeks after she was moved there.”

            “Really?” Trisha said, not really listening.

            Allan narrowed his eyes again. “I told you this during your rehabilitation.”

            “I wasn’t listening.”

            “Just like you aren’t now,” he pointed out. They were quiet for a while before he said, “She left about two months ago to go and look for you.”

            Now Trisha was listening. She blinked at her brother. “I never saw Charity in Central. Nor has she sought me out. The last time I saw her was the day she woke up.”

            Allan shrugged, continuing to work. Trisha buried herself in her thoughts again. Only this time they had a different tone. Charity went looking for her. Which meant she probably ended up in Central, but for whatever reasons, she never met with her. Trisha’s mind fell on the theft. Then suddenly it clicked.

            “It was her…”

            Allan looked up at her. “Come again?”

            “Charity… She stole the documents.”

            Allan shook his head. “Is she really capable of that? Stealing those files without anyone knowing or catching her?”

            “She’s an alchemist,” Trisha reminded him.

            “A novice alchemist.”

            “A novice alchemist who attempted human transmutation. Destroying a lock would be cake for her.”

            “But taking something in broad daylight and not getting caught isn’t all just alchemy. That takes skill and planning.”

            “Yeah, well, what Charity lacks in brains she makes up for with insanity,” Trisha sighed.

            Soon after that, Allan finished her maintenance, and Trisha headed for the phone, becoming more and more worried. She spun in her home number and waited for someone to answer.

            “Hello?”

            “Dad! I need you to tell me something!”

            “What is it? Are you in trouble?”

            “No, but we could be. I need you to tell me what you put in the reports you wrote for Mustang.”

            “W-what?! How do you know about those?!”

            “Mustang told me, circuitously.”

            “Damn rat bastard,” Edward cursed on the other side of the phone.

            “Dad, this is no time for rivalries! What did you write in those reports?!”

            “I don’t remember. A lot of stuff. Things we learned about the stone, alchemy, and human transmutation. Pretty much whatever Mustang forced me to write about. The homunculi. Their father. Xerxes. The purification arts. Anything you could think of that I studied. Why? Trisha what is this about? What are you doing?”

            “Homunculi… human transmutation…” Trisha fell into a chair next to her. “Oh god… She couldn’t be. There’s no way.”

            “Trisha!”

            “Charity has your reports and Mustang’s documents.”

            Edward was silent for such a long time, Trisha wondered if he had hung up. “How did she get them…”

            “We… I… I had Joshua take them for me…”

            “Joshua Mustang?!” Edward shrieked, causing Trisha to pull the receiver away from her ear. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH HIM!?”

            “Enough rivalries, okay!? I already have enough on my hands with Allan and his stupid grudges!” Trisha yelled back. “Now, tell me. This is important. What specifically did you put in your reports about the homunculi and the Father?”

            “From what I remember, barely anything extremely useful. I added my father’s story about Xerxes and what he told me about Pride and Father. There’s nothing in there that she could use to make a homunculus or use for human transmutation. All of that is in my travelogue…. Which seems to be missing right now….”

            Trisha swallowed loudly then coughed. “Really? That’s a shame.”

            Edward made a noise that bothered her greatly but he didn’t ask her anything. “There is one thing…”

            “What is it?”

            “Ever since the end of the Promised Day, people, specifically alchemists have been talking about rumored documents.”

            “What kind of documents?”

            “The Father’s lost research.” Trisha’s stomach dropped. “Rumors are that his documents are pretty much encyclopedic on the subjects of homunculi, human transmutation and probably tons of other dark secrets. I daresay his specs for the nationwide transmutation circle are in there… if they exist.”

            “… Do you think they exist?”

            Her father was silent for a long while before saying, “There are very few things in this world that are impossible. The only one I know of for sure is bringing back the dead.”

            “That’s a yes…” Trisha sighed. “Would your reports and Mustang’s documents tell her where they might be?”

            “They provide a good amount of information as to places to search for it. But all of the entrances to the underground are blocked off and guarded around the clock by military forces. No one has gone in or out of there since that day. If she’s trying to find it, she won’t be able to. There’s no way she’s getting in there.”

            “But how did she know about it in the first place?” Trisha said rhetorically. “She had help. Someone told her something.”

            “Trisha… you be careful. Charity is becoming dangerous.”

            “Yeah…” she sighed. “That’s what I’m afraid of… That’s why I have to stop her.”

 

 

            “She talked to herself,” said a female voice through the phone. “A lot. Mostly about you and her sister, Gloria.”

            Trisha was on the phone once more. This time she spoke to a woman named Natalie, the family friend that took Charity in.

            “And she kept a notebook. Most of it was nonsense to me.”

            “Ok. I know this might be of some trouble to you, but could you send me Charity’s things from when she stayed with you? Notebooks, books, anything she kept close to her.”

            “Yes, of course. I’ll send it through the mail.”

            “Thank you. And one other thing.” Trisha pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. “Who was the automail mechanic you called in for her?”

            “His name is Sergio Black from Rush Valley. I’m not sure where he stays in Rush Valley.”

            “That’s okay. I can find that out easily. Thank you so much.”

            “You’re welcome. Take care.”

            “You as well.” Trisha hung up and was about to pull out a phone book when the next best thing walked by. “Paninya! I need your help!”

            “Sure!” She smiled and leaned over her shoulder. “What do you need?”

            Trisha showed her the name. “Do you know this person? He’s an automail mechanic here in Rush Valley.”

            Paninya frowned. “Oh… him… Yeah, I know him, but…”

            “But what?” Trisha blinked.

            “He’s not that friendly. Probably worse than Dominic.”

            “I don’t care. Could you take me to him?”

            “I will,” Allan said as he walked in. “You’re talking about Sergio, right? I’ll take you to him.”

            The two of them left as soon as Allan was finished with a project he was doing for one of the Jensen brothers. On the way there, Allan told her about Sergio.

            “Sergio Black is a very young and very gifted mechanic. I would even say he’s better than Mom.”

            “You’re kidding?” Trisha raised her eyebrows skeptically.

            Allan shook his head. “But there are some drawbacks. He’s arrogant, rough and rash. He only speaks with the best of the best and his services come at a high price.”

            “So that’s why you’re taking me to him? He considers you one of the best?”

            He nodded. “Yes. Apparently, he idolizes Mom. He’s the son of one of the people Mom made automail for when she was here in Rush Valley. That and he’s heard that I’m a pretty kickass mechanic myself. Which is why I’m taking you. You may be Mom’s daughter, but you’re an alchemist, not a mechanic.”

            “Doesn’t he sound charming?” She rolled her eyes.

            “More charming than Joshua Mustang?” Allan scowled.

            “Will you stop it with that?!” Trisha’s cheeks turned red.

            Allan grunted and walked up to the door of Sergio Black’s house once they arrived. He rapped his knuckles on the door three times and waited, Trisha standing behind him, off to one side. There were footsteps on the other side of the door right before it clicked and creaked open slowly. On the other side was a young man with medium length black hair pulled back into a ponytail and hardened black eyes. He wore a black t shirt and dark gray pants with black boots. He was tall, dark and handsome, and despite his unfriendly aura, Trisha bit back the heat in her cheeks. He stood with one hand on the doorknob and the other in his pocket.

            “Allan. Funny seeing you here. What do you need?” His voice was rough and deep.

            “Sergio, this is my sister, Trisha,” Allan gestured to her.

            Sergio’s hard gaze fell on her and every muscle in Trisha’s body tightened. His eyes looked over every part of her, head to toe. She swallowed hard, her stomach fluttering. She bit her lip and nodded silently.

“She doesn’t look like a mechanic, so I’m guessing she’s the alchemist between you two.” He looked back up at Allan. “What do I need her for?”

            Trisha squeaked in shock and embarrassment. She swore her face was the color of their dad’s coat and steam came out of her ears. _What does that mean?!_ Her brother’s steel toed boot on top of her foot snapped her out of it. She coughed and steeled her expression, thinking that her serious face didn’t even come close to Sergio’s dark poker face.

            “Actually, Serge, she was hoping you would answer some questions she has,” Allan let a small smirk show through.

            “And why would I do that? Is she converting?”

            “’Converting’?” Trisha scoffed under her breath quietly. Once again, Allan dug his steel toe onto hers. She grunted in pain, resisting the urge to grab her leg.

            “No, she’s not converting. Though she is good at fixing things without alchemy.” Allan pointed out, for what reason Trisha couldn’t fathom. “Actually, she had some questions about a patient of yours. Someone she knows.”

            “And who would that be?”

            “First name Charity.”

            For a brief moment, Sergio’s eyes widened. Then he let out a dark chuckle and opened the door completely, stepping aside. “I’m only talking to you because you’re Allan’s sister.”

            Trisha growled and stomped inside. “Is that a compliment or an insult?”

            Sergio let out a smirk behind Trisha’s back. “Feisty, ain’t she?” He said to Allan.

            “Of course. She’s my sister,” Allan laughed.

            Trisha plopped down on the nearest couch, surprised when she didn’t see dust flying up. For the most part, Sergio Black’s home was well kept. In the back past the kitchen, she saw a door that had a padlock and a deadbolt on it. She assumed that was his workshop. Allan sat next to her and Sergio sat on the opposite couch. He pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his pockets. He put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Surprisingly, the smoke smelled of pineapple, so it didn’t bother her too much. Rather she was surprised that someone so young smoked cigarettes. He crossed his legs and rested his elbows on the back of the couch, pulling an ashtray that sat on the couch cushions towards him. He was muscular for someone so young. His t-shirt pulled at the muscles across his chest. Trisha bit her lips.

            “So… you know Charity?” He took a drag from his cigarette.

            Trisha hung her head. “Yeah.”

            “That chick’s a crackpot. But I made good money off of her.”

            “Yeah, I bet you did. Penny pinching little—” Sergio threw a couch pillow at Allan’s face.

            Trisha refrained from laughing at them and looked back at Sergio. “Did Charity say anything about her goals?”

            “She said a lot about a lot of things.” He blew smoke out in the shape of a loose ring and tapped his cigarette on the side of the ashtray. “She talked a lot about her sister. Gloria, I think it was.” He looked up at Trisha, staring hard at her. Trisha couldn’t force back her blush this time. “Now that I think about it, she talked a lot about you, too.”

            Blush gone, Trisha’s eyes widened. “R-really?”

            Sergio nodded. “She says she kept saying, ‘I’ll make things right. I’ll fix things. I’ll make Trisha normal again.’ I had no idea what she was talking about at the time. But now…” He pointed his cigarette at her right arm. “Your arm is automail, isn’t it? One of Allan’s models.”

            She grabbed her arm and nodded. “Yeah. That’s right.”

            “I’ll bet it’s super light, yet durable. Nothing short of a masterpiece.” Sergio sucked on his cigarette, glaring at Allan. “Selfish prick won’t share his secrets.”

            Allan was about to throw the pillow back, but thought twice, given Sergio was smoking. He narrowed his eyes at him. “I told you. I’ll share mine when you share yours.”

            Sergio didn’t reply. He turned back to Trisha. “Charity is crazy as a hyena and obsessed with you and her sister.” He lowered his head, and for the first time, Trisha saw his eyes hold something else other than hardened stone. His eyes looked freaked out. “Out of all my automail patients, Charity screamed the least. I couldn’t believe it. Automail surgery makes even the most battle hardened soldiers bawl and scream like children, yet she seemed almost numb to the pain. She did more crying and muttering than anything. I hated every moment of it. She freaked even me out, but her guardians were paying a good coin for it. Both legs. The best models I have. I don’t regret the payout, but I wish she had at least a few of her marbles accounted for.”

            “She left a short while after I did. Do you have any idea where she is? Has she contacted you to tell you where she’s going?”

            Sergio laughed, tapping his cigarette again. “I don’t know anything about that. She doesn’t tell me anything. All I know other than her being crazy and obsessed is that she’s determined. And that’s a bad combination.” He finished his cigarette and snuffed it out in the tray, placing the tray on the end table. “What I can tell you is that our deal as mechanic and patient is that she calls me when she needs me and she calls me every three months to schedule checkups and maintenance. And she’s late calling me this month.”

            Trisha nodded. “Well, thank you anyway.”

            “Did she go and get herself into trouble?”    

“I believe so, but I can’t prove it yet. I only have circumstantial evidence at best,” Trisha sighed.

“Well, I’ll tell you what. When she finally calls me, I’ll tell you the date and time she schedules her appointment, and you can show up when she comes in. Fair?”

Trisha smiled and nodded. “More than fair. Thank you.”

The three of them stood up and Sergio walked them to the door. He whispered at Allan, “Hey, how old is she?”

Allan raised his eyebrow at him, part of him amused and the other part suspicious. “She’s sixteen. Why?”

“No reason.”

“Liar. You’re interested.”

“So what if I am?”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t be that peeved. I’m not fond of the guy she has her eye on.”

“Who is he?”

“Keep your mouth shut?”

“Yeah, but just this once.”

That earned him a glare. “The Fuhrer’s son.”

“You’re kidding me. He’s six years her senior.”

“That’s the least of my problems.”

“Hey! I’d like to get back today, thank you!” Trisha shouted at her brother from outside. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

“I’m coming! Hold your horses!”

Sergio chuckled. “She’s cuter than she realizes. Mechanic or not.”

“Never thought I’d see the day where you’re interested in a girl.”

“Shut up and get out of my house, Elric.”

Allan grunted a laugh. “Bye, Serge.”

Sergio watched the two of them walk down the street from his door before laughing again and going back inside. “Trisha Elric…”

Down on the next block, Trisha chewed on her lip until it was peeling. Allan watched her in amusement. “Are you a cannibal now?”

“No! I’m just thinking,” Trisha scowled.

“Joshua?”

“No!”

“Sergio?”

“N-no! I’m not always thinking about boys!”

“You’re lying. The corner of your mouth twitched.”

“Ugh! I really hate you sometimes!”

Allan laughed and poked her in the sides. “You think Sergio Black is hot. Don’t lie. I saw your face the whole time. You looked at him like a piece of meat.”

“Shut up! It’s not like he wasn’t doing the same!”

“Oh I know he was.”

“Did you tell him off about it?”

“Nope.”

“Really? I’m surprised. Usually you’re all ‘DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT HITTING ON MY SISTER!’ It’s the only thing you ever actually yell about,” she half deadpanned.

“You hush! I’m only looking out for you. There’s a lot of crappy ass guys out there. I want you to find the right one.”

“Brother, boys are like shopping.”

“Oh, don’t you ‘Brother’ me! The stupidest things come out of your mouth when you call me ‘Brother!’”

“Shut up and listen. Boys are like shopping.” Allan groaned, slapping a hand over his face. “If I want to find the right shoe, for example, I have to try on a whole bunch of them.”

“And then people call you a shoe slut.”

“Not if I don’t buy all of them. I may like one shoe, but if it doesn’t fit, that’s that. I can’t fight what doesn’t fit.”

Allan sighed. “Alright, fine. You make a valid point. Just promise me one thing.”

“And what’s that?”

“Start with Sergio. Please? He may not be the prettiest shoe in the boutique, but he’s a good guy.”

“What’s with you and Joshua?”

“What’s with _you_ and Joshua?”

“Don’t answer me with a question.”

“I don’t like him.”

“That’s not a valid answer.”

Allan smirked and put his arm around her shoulder. He kissed her forehead. “Well, it’s the only answer you’re gonna get.”

He laughed when she grumbled.

 

 

A few days later, Joshua was watching Trisha go through the box of Charity’s stuff when the phone rang. Allan answered it, doing the whole Jensen Brothers spiel and “This is Allan speaking.” The person on the other side appeared to only have to say a few lines of dialogue before Allan loudly scoffed and held the phone out towards Joshua.

“Hey, Bronco. Blazing Steed number one is asking for you.”

Joshua sighed and pushed up from the wall. “Very cute. When are you going to drop this grudge against me? I’d rather us be friends. I don’t exactly like making enemies of my dad’s enemies.”

“Change your last name and I’ll consider it.”

“There have been times I’ve actually debated on doing that,” he admitted. He took the phone and put it to his ear. “What?”

“Excuse me?” Came his father’s reply.

“Give it a rest. I’m not in Central and I’m not in your office, so you don’t get a ‘yes, sir’ this time.”

“I’m still your father.”

“Like I give a damn.”

His father sighed on the other end.

Allan walked over to the table Trisha was working at, his eyes still on Joshua. “I figured he and his dad would be on excellent terms.”

“Nope,” Trisha replied, flipping through and scrutinizing Charity’s notebook.

“You’re telling me Joshua Mustang has daddy issues?”

“Yup.”

“Wow.”

“Trisha…” Joshua looked over at her with a horrified look in his eyes. He held the phone up. “The Third Laboratory has been broken into.”

Trisha dropped everything in her hands and ran over to the phone. “Nina!” She called up the stairs.

“Coming!”

Nina trotted down the stairs and squeezed in between Allan and Trisha. Joshua pushed the speaker button. The phone clicked and the sound was transferred to the speaker on the phone box.

            “This morning, about four hours ago, someone broke into the Third Laboratory, reopened the entrance to the underground ruins and resealed it once they were through. A couple hours later, the same person was reported to be exiting the ruins via the alleyway entrance. Thankfully, we received an eyewitness description of the suspect.”

            There was the shuffling of papers as Mustang read off the description. “Female. Long brown hair in a ponytail. Green eyes. About 5’5” in height. Slender build. Around the age of sixteen. Also, and this is a big help, the soldier who gave us the description had an automail leg, and he said that he distinctly remembers the heavy sound of metal coming from _both_ of her feet.”

            “Charity,” Trisha said immediately, her blood running cold.

            “You know who this is?” Mustang questioned.

            “Yes. It’s the girl who dragged me into her transmutation,” Trisha nodded, briefly forgetting that Mustang couldn’t see her.

            “Good. You can help us find her. You would know her best, I’m assuming.” He didn’t wait for confirmation as he continued with his report. “Reports say that after exiting the alleyway, she apparently headed to Central Station and jumped on a train. After pulling the train number, we discovered that the train was heading to West City.”

            “Which means she’s already there,” Nina voiced what everyone was thinking. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Trisha pulling on her jacket and closing up her suitcase. “Sister, what are you…”

            “You expect me to sit around and act like a bump on a log while she gets away?” Trisha fastened the buckles on her suitcase. “Who knows where she’s heading after West City? If we don’t head there now while we can we may never find her until she does something else stupid!”

            “Trisha, think about this before you act recklessly! We don’t know what she’s after or what she’s capable of now!” Nina reasoned with her.

            “Listen to your cousin, kid,” Mustang’s voice sounded from the receiver. “Alphonse was always the voice of reason back then. Nina is very much like her father and she makes perfect sense.”

            “We’re not our fathers!” Trisha practically screamed at the phone.

            “No, you’re not. But they’ve done this before, and under way worse circumstances and for way more drastic reasons. And they came out alive with 90% of what they wanted. They made sacrifices no one would ever wish on children their age. Or anyone of any age for that matter. You may not be exactly like your father, Trisha, but you would be wise to follow his guidance in whichever way you can take it.”

            “You don’t think I know that?!” Trisha clenched her fists, her right hand making a grinding noise as the metal structure pressed together. “I messed up with Charity, and I’m the only one who can make this right! I don’t know how, but I know in order to do it I have to find her! I don’t know if she needs the living crap beat out of her or if she needs the world’s most bone crushing hug, but in order to do either _I have to find her!”_

            “And you will, Trisha,” Mustang said calmly. “But think this through. It’s been four hours since then. I already had every available hand in West City on the case when we found out where the train was heading. They still haven’t found her. By the time you get there, she could be gone completely or go into hiding, if she hasn’t done one of those two already.”

            Trisha growled with frustration. Suddenly, Nina embraced her in a tight hug. “I know you want to find her, but we should listen to Mustang. We can’t do anything right now. Okay?”

            Trisha hugged her back and buried her face in Nina’s shoulder. “It’s my fault… I bought her that journal… I put it in her head to crack the code…”

            “You couldn’t possibly have known what that journal held,” Mustang encouraged her. “Just as Edward and Alphonse couldn’t have known what would happen at that age when they did that transmutation. But Charity knew. She had you to tell her what would happen, but she didn’t listen. The horse told her from its mouth but she was too blind to listen.”

            “Who would listen to a talking horse?” Trisha rolled her eyes, half joking, half serious.

            Joshua chuckled. “I can think of a lot of people that would listen to you,” he smiled.

            “As much as I hate that look on your face, I agree with you,” Allan nodded, his arms crossed. “Charity should have listened. This is her own fault.”

            Mustang piped up once more. “Joshua, I’m making this case and anything related to Charity your priority as a State Alchemist. I’ll be sending you copies of all reports and files on this.”

            “Alright. I’ll take care of it,” Joshua said without objection.

            “I’ll keep you posted.” The receiver on the other end clicked and Joshua hung up the phone, clicking the speaker button back into place.

            “I will find her,” Trisha said, still locked in Nina’s embrace. “And when I do, I’m going to punch her in the mouth with my right hand…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Allan stands at the height of 5'10". He's taller than his dad even lol.
> 
> So... in case anyone didn't catch it... The horse joke thing was a play on the phrase "straight from the horse's mouth." I wasn't sure if that would confuse anyone or not, so just clarifying. 
> 
> As for the next chapter, we start a new arc with the appearance of another new character (not sure if regular or not). I will work on it as much as I can. Please look forward to it!
> 
> Sergio Black's voice is subject to change, but right now I'm leaning towards Matthew Mercer, the voice of Captain Levi in Attack On Titan, Kuroh Yatogami in K, Tsukishima in Bleach, and one of my faves Rihan Nura in Rise of the Yokai clan. And for those of you who are Resident Evil fans like me, he's also Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil 6. Also, I'll be meeting him for the first time this friday at Colorado Anime Fest! 
> 
> If you're curious as to what I imagine Sergio to look like, here's a link: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tSCTJOfFSj4/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAFE/Ah8oU08S3kk/photo.jpg (I hope it works. @@) PS: I didn't draw that. Disclaimer.


	13. Nothing I Won't Give

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trisha learns more about Sergio. A banned book is stolen from a military library, and the culprit is not what they expected.

#  _Nothing I Won’t Give_

 

            The boy was very young. No older than eight, with scruffy brown hair and honey colored eyes. His skin was lightly tanned, like he spent many hours a day in the sun. He sat in a graveyard, in front of a small, in-ground gravestone with a single first name on it and two years on it. His knees were drawn up to his chest, his face hidden in his knees and arms. His small body shook with sobs.

            “Why? Why did you have to go? You were all I had. You promised we’d always be together!”

            “Ohh, you poor thing,” a female voice cooed behind him, as if she were talking to a baby animal or an infant. “You must miss them so much. I know what it’s like to miss someone terribly. Worst kind of pain there is.”            

The boy raised his head and looked back. The girl was slender with long brown hair and green eyes. Her eyes, though bright in color, were dark and frightening. He couldn’t tell if the smile on her face was genuine or plastered on. Either way, it didn’t seem to fit her face.

            “Wh-who are you?”

            “Someone who can help you.”

            “Help me? What are you talking about?”

            “The person in the grave…” she walked forward and kneeled down next to him. She extended her arm and pressed one thin finger into the surface of the gravestone. “I can bring them back. You can see them again.”

            The boy’s face lit up and he leaped to his feet. “Really? You mean it? How?!”

            Her smile grew wider and she nodded slowly. “But… you’ll have to do something for me in return…”

            “Anything!” The boy clenched his hands in front of him. “I’ll do anything! Please bring him back!”

            The girl’s eyes flashed as her grin grew wider still. “Alright. You have a deal.”

 

 

            “Oi! Trisha Elric!”

            Trisha turned around at the sound of someone calling her name. When she turned around, she saw the one person she wasn’t expecting. Sergio Black came walking towards her, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder. His eyes were just as hardened as a week ago. The small bun he had pulled his hair up into was loose and slightly messy. Parts of black hair fell around his face. Today he wore a black tank top with a white long sleeved button up that he left open and a pair of dark gray jeans with his black boots. Around his neck was a pendant on a silver chain. The pendant, made from a piece of obsidian, was set in silver. One word came to mind when she took in his appearance.

_Damn..._

            “Sergio Black,” she said as he came closer, for lack of a better greeting. “What are you doing here?”

            “Hunting,” he shrugged the bag further up his shoulder.

            “Hunting? For what?”

            “You wouldn’t get it. You’re an alchemist, not a mechanic,” he said bluntly.

            Trisha narrowed her eyes and turned to walk away.

            “Aw, what? Did that hurt your feelings, little alchemist? Now you’re gonna run away?”

            Trisha pulled out an apple out of her bag of groceries and chucked it at him. He expertly dodged and caught it in his hand. “Shut up! My brother was right. You really are a rude, arrogant jerk.”

            “I’m sure he says a lot of things about me,” Sergio followed her, biting into the apple.            

“Don’t eat that! It’s mine! I bought it!” Sergio held the bitten apple out to her but Trisha faked a gag. He shrugged and continued eating it. “You owe me 90 Sen (A/N: about .76 cents).”

            Sergio pulled out a coin pouch out of his pocket and fished out two 50 Sen coins. He shoved them in her pocket. “Keep the change.”

            She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I thought you only talk to the best of the best.”

            “You complaining?” He chuckled at her slight growl. “You’re the sister of the best and the daughter of the best of the best so you’re more than covered on that part.”

            “I really don’t get you.”

            “Get in line,” he crunched into the apple. “You picked a good one. It’s really sweet.”

            “Mom planted a ton of fruit trees and vines. We have four apple trees, four orange trees, two fences of grapes, two lemon trees, a cherry tree, a huge strawberry patch, and a bunch of vegetable plants. Her thumb is greener than Risembool’s grass.”

            “I bet she makes kick ass pies.”

            “Best in the country. She’s won so many blue ribbons you could stitch them together and wrap them around a spool.” Just then, a thought occurred to her. “Wait, Allan said that you were the son of one of Mom’s patients here in Rush Valley.”

            “Yeah. My dad. He was a few years older than she was. He worked for a mechanic and blacksmith in town. He was working with some metals and he had an accident. There were some boxes with heavy equipment and they fell over. His arm ended up caught in the furnace. They had to take it off. That happened around the time Miss Winry was here. She did the surgery on him and everything. Years after, she still did maintenance on his arm. If he couldn’t get to her, she’d come to him. I think he had feelings for her, cause after he found out your dad and her were together, he married my mom. She was a mechanic and an automail lover like Miss Winry. Spunky and feisty. Didn’t back down for anything or anyone. She was really hard headed and iron willed, but Dad loved her because of it. I’m sure he saw a lot of Miss Winry in Mom.”

            “Um... your parents...” Trisha treaded lightly around the question.

            “You’re wondering why a sixteen-year-old like me is living alone, making a living off of high end automail. Mom went to Ishval to help with the rebuilding efforts there and to help with refugees of the conflicts between Arugo and Amestris. She never came back. Dad left to go looking for her and left me with my aunt and uncle on her side. They hated me though. They were really cruel and abusive, so I stole some money from their safe and high tailed it back here to Rush Valley. That house belongs to my parents. Mom taught me everything she knew, so I picked up where she left off and used her designs to springboard my own. That was three years ago.”

            Trisha hung her head, the thought of Sergio having to fend for himself at such a young age churning in her stomach. She fished out the 100 Sen and put the two coins back in his pocket. “You keep it.”

            Sergio narrowed his eyes at her and pulled out the coins, putting them back in her pocket once more. “I don’t need your pity. I can take care of myself. I’ve done it for three years. I’ll do it for three more if I have to.”

            She huffed and shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. It’s just… everyone deserves to have a family and people who love them. Both my parents grew up without their families. I’m lucky enough to have both my parents and my aunt and uncle around. But you… you haven’t seen your dad for three years and your mom even longer than that. And on top of that, your extended family hates you. You don’t deserve that.”

            He tossed the apple core into a nearby dumpster as they walked by. “Yeah, well. We can’t always get what we want. And you’ve been through worse hell than me. Courtesy of Little Miss Psycho.”

            “I have to find her. I can’t let her damage anyone else’s life.”

            “I’d be overly cautious of her if I were you. People who are so obsessed with something that they go crazy are the most dangerous people around. And when another person is involved in that obsession, the other person usually ends up hurt as well, or worse.”

            “I don’t need you to tell me that. I know I could end up hurt chasing after her. She has help, and we have no idea what that other person is like. They could be worse than her. But I have to do this anyway. She’s my mistake. No one else’s.”

            “She’s not your mistake, Trisha. She made her own choices. She dragged you into them with her. After finding out just how crazy she is, I have to say giving her, her legs back is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.”

            “I know you’re her mechanic, but you really shouldn’t have anything to do with her,” Trisha warned.            

“I thought we had a deal? When she comes in I’ll tip you off,” Sergio’s tone was irritated.

            “It’s not worth it. I won’t let her drag anyone else into this mess.”

            “I told you, I can take care of myself,” he repeated with more bite.

            “You don’t know anything about her. You don’t know what she’s capable of,” Trisha snapped back, stopping to glare at him.

            Sergio stepped forward and loomed over her, his black eyes burning into her blue ones. “And you don’t know what I’m capable of. Franky, I don’t care about her. I know she’s dangerous, but she’s not the one I’m worried about.”

            Trisha blinked several times, unsure of how to answer. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

            Sergio took off the obsidian pendant around his neck and held it out to her. “This is a treasure of mine. It’s very important to me. I’m lending it to you. I get the feeling you’re not going to be here in Rush Valley much longer, so give it back to me when I see you again. And then I’ll lend it to you again the next time you leave.”

            Cautiously, she took it in her left hand, her thumb stroking over the smooth black stone. “But why?”

            “Because you’re not allowed to lose it. I want it back. And to give it back to me, you have to come back. Get my drift?” When she blinked again in confusion he scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Meaning bring it back to me in one piece, got it? Don’t you dare lose it. And you’d better bring it back to me.”

            A small smile painted her lips and she closed her hand around it. “Fine.”

            “Allan worries about you. He’s talked about you before. Don’t get yourself hurt, cause if you do, I’ll be the one who has to deal with him.”

            Trisha shook her head and turned to walk away. “I still don’t get you.”

            “I don’t get you either. Winry Rockbell is your mom and you choose alchemy?”

            “Shut up, Grease Monkey Genius the Second.”

            “What did you call me?” Sergio stomped after her.

            “You heard me! I’m not repeating myself!”

            “I dare you to say that to my face.”

            “Go back to your dungeon, you Emo Mechanic!”

            “Ok, my turn: What the hell does that mean?!”

            “I’m not telling!”

            “You’re even more frustrating than your brother!”

            “Good! Then I’m living up to my reputation!”

            “What reputation?!”

            Confused gazes followed the two as Trisha rushed off with Sergio chasing after her, the two of them yelling back and forth. By the time Trisha reached the Jensen brothers’ shop, neither of them remembered what it was they were yelling about. When she entered the shop, waving to Sergio who continued down the road, Allan smirked, only imagining what kind of conversation the two had been carrying out. He chuckled when he noticed Sergio’s pendant in her hand.

            “And what are you laughing about?” Trisha spat at him.

            “Nothing,” he replied nonchalantly.

            “Yeah right…”

            She went to the back of the shop to find Joshua flipping through reports and files, obviously sent by Mustang. Nina looked up at Trisha and immediately broke into a wide smirk. Trisha rolled her eyes and sat across from her at the table after putting the groceries away, glancing at Joshua over on the couch out of the corner of her eye.

            “Who were you talking to?” Nina asked in her typical “time to gossip” voice.

            “Nina, you need a boy to be interested in, that way you’ll stop bugging me about mine,” Trisha sighed. She thought for a minute then shook her head. “No, on second thought, that would just make it worse.”

            Nina threw the pencil she had been drawing on a notebook with at her, pouting. “You need to be more girlish, Sister. You’re the only one I have to talk to.”

            “I know, I know. Just be glad I’m at least a little boy crazy.”

            “A little?”

            “Oh, shut up,” Trisha said in a tone not unlike the one her father would usually use. Nina laughed at this. “I was talking to Sergio Black. I ran into him coming back from getting groceries. Well, more like he flagged me down.”

            “Really? But Allan said that Sergio Black was really snobbish.”

            Trisha huffed in frustration and leaned against the table, slouching over as she propped her head up with her hand. “Yeah, well, he’s also really hot.”

            “How old is he?”

            “Sixteen.”

            “Wow. Really?”

            “Yeah. He’s pretty… I don’t even think there’s a word for him. Other than ‘black.’”

            “Black?”

            “Yeah. He wears mostly black, he’s a bit mean and rude like the color, but also mysterious like it too.”

            “I guess that’s… wow. Is he really that bad in terms of personality?”

            “He has his reasons.”

            “But is he that bad?”

            “Well, let’s just say I’ve met worse people. He’s more bad with words than anything. And prideful.”

            “So you have to choose between black and blue,” Nina smiled widely.

            “Sometimes I really want to smack you.” Trisha glanced over at Joshua once more who was completely absorbed in his work, not paying the slightest bit of attention to what they were talking about. “They’re both good looking.” She pulled out the obsidian necklace that Sergio had “let her borrow.” “But then there’s this…”

            Nina slipped it out of her hands and inspected it gently. Suddenly it hit her. She gasped. “Sergio gave this to you?!”

            “Shhhhh! He didn’t give it to me. He let me borrow it.” When Nina gave her a confused look she elaborated. “Basically he let me borrow it as an insurance policy that I’ll come back in once piece.”            

Nina put her hand over her heart, mouth agape. “Oh, Trisha.”

            “I know! I know!” She pushed her hands into her hair and pulled, placing her forehead on the table. “I don’t know what to do! His attitude is terrible in the sexiest way!”

            “And yet he gave you this to get you to come back. Which means he wants to see you again.”

            Trisha looked up at her sister-cousin. “You switching sides?”

            Nina sighed and pouted, putting her chin in her hands. “I don’t know. Joshua is really good looking, but Sergio has actually shown interest in you. But I haven’t seen Sergio, so I can’t really speak for his looks.”

            “He’s dark and dangerous and handsome. He’s like the color black. And you know how much my side of the Elric family loves black.”

            “And red.”

            “Well, both of their blood is red so that doesn’t count…” Trisha deadpanned. Nina laughed and shook her head.

            Suddenly Allan walked in and tossed the morning paper down onto the table in the middle of the two girls, then made his way to the fridge. Trisha picked up the paper and flipped through it. It wasn’t long before she glanced over a headline that piqued her interest.

            _LAST COPY OF BANNED BOOK STOLEN FROM MILITARY LIBRARY VAULT IN PENDLETON._

            She read through the text then jolted up from her slouching position. Nina blinked at her. “Joshua!”

            “Hmmm?” He hummed absentmindedly.

            “Come here!”

            “One minute,” he chewed his lip, scanning a file.

            “Just come here! You can read those later!”

            “Alright, alright. I’m coming,” Joshua peeled his eyes off the file and stood from the couch, taking his time walking over to Trisha, which irritated her enormously.

            “Read this!” She shoved the paper at him.

            He shook the paper out and looked over it, easily finding the headline Trisha was obviously excited over. Joshua barely had time to wonder why she was so excited about a book being stolen when he read the phrase “human alchemy” in the text. The stolen book was a banned book on human alchemy.

            “Oh… That can’t be good,” he read over the text again.

            “I want to go there! We have to find that book and burn it!” Trisha clenched her fists and pounded them down on the table.

            “I agree with you that the book needs to be found, but I’m not so sure the military would be happy with us helping them find it just to burn it instead of giving it back,” Joshua folded the newspaper and set it down on the table.

            “And what the hell does the military want with a book on something that’s taboo?! The files said that all the military experiments and projects were stopped and destroyed after The Father was killed. Grumman, Mustang and General Armstrong made sure of it.”

            “Have you stopped to consider that they kept it in military custody for that particular reason? To keep it safe and out of the wrong hands?”

            “Well they obviously didn’t keep it safe enough,” Trisha crossed her arms. “That thing should have been destroyed from the start.”

            “I can’t say I disagree,” Nina pitched in. “And you’d think your dad would have all of those materials burned given that he was an unwilling victim of human alchemy as well.”

            “Honestly, I couldn’t tell you why my father does half, or even a quarter, of the things he does. He’s lost with me,” Joshua sighed. He looked to the paper once more then glanced back at Trisha. “We’ll go there and see what we can do. But we’re not burning that book. It was in the military vault for a reason.”

            Trisha huffed but nodded, partly satisfied that Joshua was even agreeing to go to Pendleton in the first place.

            “We’ll go first thing in the morning. It’ll take a while to get there, so by the time we get there it’ll be late afternoon if we go now. We’ll wake up early and catch the first train out,” Joshua said as he went back to his files.

 

 

 

            The three of them stepped off the train in Pendleton. It was about 9:45 in the morning and the air was crisp and chilly. Nina wore a blue shawl around her shoulders with her hair down. Trisha wore her white and black jacket, and Joshua was dressed in his military uniform with a long, black pea coat.

            “Why are you wearing your uniform?” Trisha raised an eyebrow

            “Do you really think the MPs will talk to people dressed as civilians?”

            “Good point.”

            When they arrived at the library, a clerk at the desk let them in upon seeing Joshua’s uniform. It wasn’t hard to find the vault in question. The very back of the library was taped off and there were two male MPs and two library staff, a man and a woman, standing at the hallway entrance talking.

            “Gentlemen,” Joshua greeted them as they approached them. “Mind if we ask you some questions about the theft from the other night?”

            “A soldier?” The shorter of the two MPs raised an eyebrow. He had short hair about as dark as his police uniform and dark blue eyes. “Did Central send you? We can take care of this ourselves. We don’t need help finding a stolen book.”

            Joshua raised his hands submissively. “Relax. I’m not here to take over. We’re just curious. We’re worried that a book like that could end up in the wrong hands.”

            “Well, I’m the officer in charge of this investigation,” the taller MP said, turning to face Joshua. He had green eyes and short blond hair that he kept slicked back. “We appreciate the concern, but it would be a waste of time to get you up to speed on the case while we could be out investigating a lead. Who are you, anyway?”

            Joshua pulled out his pocket watch. “Joshua Mustang. And out here in the field, I have the distinction of Major.”

            And just like that the two MPs jolted upright at attention, saluting. Sweat dripped down their necks and foreheads. “S-Sir! Pardon our rudeness! We didn’t know it was you! Please don’t report us!”

            “Relax. I don’t have any interest in that,” Joshua said as he put his watch back in his pocket. “So. May we join you in your investigation?”

            “Yes, Sir! We appreciate your help!” The chief said enthusiastically, still saluting.

            “At ease, guys. You don’t have to salute for so long. So, what’s the quick and dirty version of the reports?” Joshua questioned as Trisha and Nina slipped underneath the tape and looked around, Trisha heading towards the back to the vault.

            “Yesterday morning, around eight, the morning staff opened the library for the day and noticed the vault had been broken into. They immediately took inventory and discovered that the book was missing. They called us right away and we took statements from the morning staff. So far, we’ve questioned all the library staff and cleared them,” the police chief briefed him.

            “Did anyone witness the actual theft?” Joshua asked.

            “No,” the head librarian shook her head, tucking her brown hair behind her ear. “Since we’re not a twenty-four hour branch, we don’t have any night staff. The library is empty at night.”

            “You don’t have any guards to patrol the library at night?”

            “Pendleton is very short staffed on police personnel,” the shorter MP explained. “Decisions were made to put more staff in town than at the library.”

            “I see,” Joshua nodded. “What about alarms? Is the library equipped with them?”

            “Yes,” the second librarian, the man, nodded. “But the alarms didn’t go off, which is why the vault was not discovered broken into until the staff for that morning arrived.”

            “Which is why we interviewed all the library staff first. We assumed since there was no alarm, the thief had keys to the library and its security systems.”

            “So then how could the thief have broken in and out without disturbing the alarms?” Joshua said mostly to himself, looking around.

            “There!” Nina shouted all of a sudden. She pointed up to a window on the second floor with busted out glass.

            “Oh no,” the head librarian said, putting a hand to her forehead. “That window was broken last week and the alarm was damaged. We replaced the glass, but we didn’t have the funds to repair the alarm on it.”

            Nina trotted over to the stairs that lead up to the second floor, and a few minutes later, she appeared near the window. Joshua watched her stoop down then stand back up. She held up a fist-sized rock with her thumb and index finger. Joshua turned to the MPs.

            “I would dust that area for prints,” Joshua advised them.

            Trisha appeared from the vault and walked back down the hall, jerking her thumb back towards the vault. “There are security cameras back there. Do they work?”

            “Yes,” the head librarian nodded. “They’re running. However, the person who installed them never explained how to access the recordings. They come once a week to replace the cassettes. We have a security room where all the tapes are kept.”

            “I’m sure I can figure it out,” Trisha crossed her arms and grinned.

            The male librarian turned and made his way over to a paging phone on a support pillar nearby. He picked up the phone and dialed a number before calling for the chief of security over the PA system.

            Nina returned from the second floor. Joshua turned to her and said, “I’ll go with Trisha and see if we can look over the tapes.”

            Nina nodded. “And I’ll look around down here and bag any evidence I find.”

            “We’ll have our personnel look over the second floor,” the MP Chief added.

            “Let’s get to work then,” Joshua said when the chief of security arrived.

            About fifteen minutes later, more MPs arrived with cases containing evidence bags, brushes, and everything else needed to examine and process any evidence found. In the time it took them to get there, Nina had looked over the inside of the vault and around the immediate area. None of the other items on the shelves and in the drawers and cases in the vault were disturbed. The only thing touched and taken was the book. In the lock of the vault were long strands of brown hair. The lock itself was picked skillfully; not broken or messily picked where the tools scraped the metal of the lock. It was the kind of work a locksmith would be capable of doing. Scattered across the floor inside the vault and down the hallway were trails of dirt, some shaped into shoe prints, or more specifically, boot prints. When he MPs arrived, she took one of their kits and gathered her findings; picking the hair from the lock and bagging it, taking pictures of the lock, gathering samples of the dirt and snapping pictures of the boot prints. When she was done, she headed up to the second floor to help the MPs.

            In the security room, the chief of security showed Trisha and Joshua the control panel and the security monitors.

            “When the police were notified of the theft, the company who set up the system came out and put in all new tapes and set aside the ones from yesterday,” the man said. He took out a cassette tape from a box on a desk and handed it to Joshua. “This is the tape for the camera closest to the vault. The rest of the tapes in this box are all the ones from the cameras the thief should have passed on the way to the vault, both from the first floor and the second floor.”

            “Well, we’d better get to watching,” Joshua sighted lightly. “There’s a lot of footage to look over.”

            The chief nodded. “I’ll leave you two to it then. Good luck.”

            When the door closed behind him, Trisha took the cassette from Joshua and walked over to a projector in the corner of the room. “This must be how you play them. It’s a newer model. No wonder they didn’t know how to work them. They’ve only been out for a little while.”

            “Do you know how to work it?” Joshua asked her.

            “Yeah. Izumi bought one before I finished my rehabilitation,” Trisha dragged the table the projector sat on to the middle of the room.

She fiddled with it while Joshua pulled down the screen against the wall. After a few minutes, she pushed the cassette into the slot and closed the lid. She pressed in the play button and footage of the hallway in front of the vault from the day before the previous popped up on the screen.

“Look at that,” Joshua pointed to the bottom of the image. “It’s time stamped.”

“Thank god. I didn’t want to have to sit here and watch surveillance tapes for hours.”

“The MPs said that the librarians found the vault broken into at around eight yesterday morning. So I would start at the time the library closed the previous day.”

“Which would be ten the previous night,” Trisha nodded and hit the fast forward button, watching as the recorded day flew by and things gradually got darker and the library emptied out. As the tape took its time fast forwarding, Trisha sighed and pulled up a chair. Joshua did the same.

They were silent for a while before Trisha glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and said, “You know, I was thinking…”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t really know that much about you aside from your career choice and your ambitions.”

“That’s true… A person isn’t really wholly defined by their dirty laundry…” Joshua trailed off. “In which case, I don’t know anything about you either.”

“Definitely not,” Trisha half scoffed and half laughed.

He turned and grinned at her. “Okay then. Enlighten me.”

She pursed her lips, not really expecting, nor wanting to go first. “What should I say?”

“I don’t know,” he laughed. “You’re the one who brought it up.” When she grumbled he smiled and said, “How about you tell me something you’ve never told anyone else? Or make a confession or something.”

“Okay fine…” She searched her mind for something juicy enough worth “admitting.” “Growing up, my brother never really dated or was interested in girls, or so I thought. The day before he left for Rush Valley, I asked him why. He said that whenever a girl seemed interested in him or he seemed interested in a girl, I would get all defensive and protective. Or maybe the word he used was possessive… Anyway, I would always drive the girl away, so he just gave up and decided not to date until he was out living on his own. I never really realized it until he was gone. I always did it subconsciously. When I realized it, I called him to apologize, but he just laughed.”

“Allan is a great guy. Any girl would be lucky to have him.”

“If he heard you say that about him, he’d probably puke,” Trisha deadpanned.

Joshua laughed humorlessly.

“So, why does he hate you?”

“Like I said before, I was a real jerk when I was younger. It was early middle school and a bunch of schools from across the country were visiting central for a culture festival. Your brother’s school was one of them. Your brother was involved in a few stalls in the festival that focused on country life and what it’s like to live on a farm. Well, from what I remember, some of my ‘friends’ and I started making fun of your brother and the other students from that area of the country. Allan got pissed and embarrassed to the point of tears. That just made it worse. He punched me in the nose and my so called ‘friends’ jumped him for it without me even saying anything. I didn’t _want_ them to beat him up. It was rude and just downright mean of us to do that. I realized that later on in life. The next time I saw him was for a national science fair. I tried to apologize to him, but he told me if I ever so much as breathed on him again he’d break my nose a second time. I knew I was going to win at the fair, so I backed out the last minute so that they’d have to give him first place. I’d hoped that would show him I really was sorry, but it just made him even angrier.”

Trisha gaped at him as Joshua went silent. The guilty look in his eyes was so potent it leaked into the air. She closed her mouth and looked back at the fast-forwarding tape. “Well, on one hand, I can’t really blame him for holding a grudge. On the other hand, that’s a really long time to hate someone. The one thing my brother did get from my dad in terms of personality is his ability to hold a grudge. And on top of that, you’re Roy Mustang’s son.”

Joshua’s brow furrowed in something Trisha couldn’t quite put a finger on. “Do our dads really hate each other that much?”

“They don’t _hate_ each other. They just don’t get along most times. But they respect each other.” Joshua only grunted. “Maybe you should write him a letter.”

“Like he’d read it. He’d only crumple it up.”

“Yeah that’s true.”

“Then why’d you suggest it?!”

“I guess you’ll just have to win him over with persistence.”

“I guess…” Joshua turned to her. “So how about you? Ever do something you regret? Other than the obvious things.”

“…. It’ll sound really stupid…”

“Mine sounded stupid. Idiotic really.”

Trisha was silent for a while before she answered. “When I was eleven, there was this boy I really liked. We hung out a lot. He was really rebellious. He liked to go to the caves in the foot hills and into the forest at night. Lots of dumb stuff that our parents always told us not to do. My parents told me to stop hanging around him and that he was a bad influence. I always ignored them and got angry when they told me that. One day he accepted a dare from another friend of his to jump onto a train while the merchants were loading their goods. He asked me to go with him. I didn’t want to at first since I knew my parents would kill me. But he said if I didn’t do it I was a chicken. So I agreed. That evening I told my parents I wanted to go watch the trains the next morning. They figured out I was going with him and said no. I got so angry I said I was going to run away. I mostly said it to scare them. So that morning I went with him. I was able to get on, but he was caught. When he got caught they had someone stand watch at the car entrance so I couldn’t get out without getting caught myself. The train ended up leaving with me in it. Hours later, I ended up in East City. The merchants found me crying when they unloaded the cargo. They took me to the police station and an MP rode the train back with me after calling my parents.”

“Wow…” Joshua’s expression was surprised. “You pick out the bad boys huh?”

“Shut up,” Trisha sighed, with no actual bite.

“I lost my virginity at fourteen.”

            She froze and slowly turned and looked at Joshua, who seemed to be gauging her reaction. “You win.” Joshua laughed. “But… why…? Who could you have _possibly_ wanted to… at **fourteen**?!”

            “This blonde senior girl in high school. Really popular. Loved expensive things. Gold digger type. I was a perfect target for her. Of course I didn’t realize any of this until I invited her over for dinner. That’s when it happened. I had fallen asleep and she managed to take some cash I had stashed away, plus snuck out and managed to find my parent’s vault in the sitting room. She stole thousands in cash, jewelry and other valuables. I didn’t know till months later that her parents were a pair of thieves that were notorious in Central. Apparently, they told her about me and without being told anything else she targeted me. I was grounded for two months.”

            “That’s…. so outlandish. You’re joking. That’s got to be a joke.”

            “Unfortunately no. I was really that stupid back then.”

            “So you were a jerk, then a pushover, and now you’re…”

            “Hopefully just your typical twenty-year-old guy who lives well under his means and just so happens to be a state alchemist.”

            “Right, because lots of twenty-year-old guys follow that career path,” Trisha said with so much sarcasm she almost believed herself.

“Coffee or tea?”

“Tea. Coffee is gross. Jam or jelly?”

            “Jam. Jelly is just processed sugar.”

            “Agreed.”

            “Fall, Winter, Spring or Summer?”

            “Summer, duh.”

            “Nuh, uh. Spring is the best.”

            “How so?”

            “It rains which makes the air smell good and makes things grow. It perfectly in between hot and cold.”

            “So you’re a fire wielding alchemist who likes the rain. Ain’t that a hearty helping of irony.”

            Joshua chuckled. “Yeah. One of the many things that makes me different from my father.”

            Trisha was deep in thought on all the things that made her different from her own father when she realized she had let the tape run too far. “Dammit! I went too far!”

            She was just about to press the stop and rewind buttons when Joshua grabbed her shoulder. “No wait!” He jammed the play button and pointed at the image on the projector screen.

            On the screen, sneaking into the hallway to the vault was the moving image of a short figure with long, dark hair. The person was seemingly feminine. However, the face was hidden between the angle of the camera and the hair. Trisha grinded her teeth.

            “Charity.”

            “We can’t confirm that. There isn’t a clear picture of the face and it seems like they’re purposely not showing their face, which means that they know the cameras are there. There’s a lot of people, including girls, that have dark hair. And we can’t really tell the shade or even if it’s brown or black.”

            Trisha sighed and sat back down. “You’re right. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions so quick.”

            Joshua stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find her. Don’t worry.”

            Trisha nodded silently, rewinding the tape and watching the figure disappear down the hall again.

 

 

           

            Back at the police headquarters, the three of them plus the two MPs from earlier stood in the lab part of the headquarters. The five of them spoke to the head analyst of the lab.

            “You gathered a lot of great samples for us. We’ll definitely be able to get compelling evidence out of them. But it will take a while for the results to come back.”

            “Then we’d better busy ourselves in the meantime,” the Chief said. He turned to the others. “We would do well to head out into town and question some of the locals. See if anyone noticed anyone acting suspicious.”

            “Agreed. We’ll join you on that,” Joshua nodded.

            “We should split up so we can cover more of the town,” Nina suggested.

            “Good idea,” Joshua pulled out the map of the town. He pointed to the heart of the town: the marketplace. “I’ll take this area. Trisha, you take the area surrounding the library. Nina, you take the area next to that.”

            “And we’ll take the northern area,” the dark haired MP chimed in.

            “Alright then. Head out and get us something we can use,” the Chief gave a stern nod.

            It was about a half an hour in and no one had dug up anything. It seemed as if this person had just vanished. No one saw anything; not even in the immediate area surrounding the library. Joshua sighed as he walked around the marketplace. He spotted a long line of produce stalls and walked up to them. He stopped at the very first one—a fruit stand ran by an older woman.

            “Good morning, young man. A bit young to be a soldier, aren’t you?” The graying woman smiled.

            Joshua smiled and laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “Well, it’s the family business so… I don’t think there was really any other option for me. But it’s not all bad. Thankfully soldiers have a better reputation now than two decades ago.”

            “True, but still. Keep yourself safe. You have your whole life ahead of you,” the woman handed him a bright red apple.

            “Thank you, ma’am,” Joshua took the apple and shined it on his jacket. He pocketed it and pulled out a notepad with a description on it. “Actually, I was wondering if you might know anyone that fits this description. Someone that might act suspicious.”

            The woman set out a basket of apples and took the notepad. After giving the description a thorough read, she shook her head and handed it back. “No, I’m sorry. That’s a very general description, and I can’t think of anyone who looks like that who acts suspiciously. Is this about the theft at the library?”

            “Yes ma’am.”

            “You might want to try the bookstore down the road. The man who owns it always struck me as odd. He always has the strangest books on his shelves. He’s been in trouble before for having books he shouldn’t have. I guess it’s like they say. When someone tells you that you can’t have something, it makes you want it even more.”

            Joshua nodded sternly. “Very true.”

            “He’s probably out to lunch now, so you might want to wait until about one o’ clock,” the woman went back to pulling out crates of different fruits.

            “Thank you very much, ma’am. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

            He moved towards the middle of the road, stopping to pull out his pocket watch. He flung it around his hand, the watch landing in his palm and the lid snapping open. It was at that moment he heard a crash. He looked up to see a young boy, no older than ten to twelve with short brown hair, brown eyes and tan skin. At his feet were a bag of groceries. The boy’s expression was horrified as he looked at Joshua. As Joshua took a step towards the boy, he turned and dashed off in the opposite direction.            

“Hey! Wait a minute!”

He ran after the boy, weaving through crowds of people. He barely kept the boy in his sights, but as they reached an intersection, the boy made a sharp turn left. By the time Joshua turned as well, the boy was gone.

“Damn he’s fast!” He turned back and jogged back to where the boy dropped the groceries. The bag was filled with cheap foodstuff and flowers. When he picked up the bag, he heard a call from the produce stands.

“Young man!”

He went back to the fruit stand. “Who was that boy? Do you know him?”

The woman nodded slowly. “Yes. That boy was Kali. He’s an orphan. He likes to cause trouble around town. He was in an orphanage here in town until the orphanage got closed down. Now he lives by himself.”

“Alone? But he’s so young,” he turned and glanced down the way the boy had run off. He turned back to the woman. “Do you know where he lives?”

“No,” she shook her head. “No one does, and he won’t tell anyone. He’s a very troubled boy.”

Joshua sighed and nodded. “Alright. Thank you again for all your help.”

“It’s no trouble. Take care of yourself, young man.”

It was later in the day when everyone gathered together again at headquarters. Joshua had visited the bookstore owner after he returned from lunch, but that turned out to be a dead end. He didn’t even have any female employees who remotely resembled the figure in the security tapes, nor did he or anyone else affiliated with the bookstore have the proper knowledge to break into the library vault. When they all met back up, Joshua told them about the boy. The chief and the other MPs were skeptical about trying to track Kali down. He was only a child who liked to cause trouble. Certainly not a thief. Where would he even learn the necessary skills to get into the vault, and what would he do with a book on human alchemy? Trisha refrained from pointing out that technically Charity was a child as well, and so was herself.

It wasn’t much longer and the evidence had finished processing.

“Alright, first the hair sample,” the head analyst pushed his glasses up. “It’s not human. It’s synthetic. In other words, it came from a wig.”

“So the figure Trisha and Joshua saw in the video was wearing disguise,” Nina spoke what they all were thinking as Trisha grinded her teeth. “So it wasn’t Charity.”

“Don’t worry,” Joshua squeezed Trisha’s shoulder. “We’ll find her.”

The analyst looked back at his report. “As for the dirt samples from the footprints, they contained a specific type of clay soil that’s only found in the outskirts of town, near the frontier area.”

“Good, that narrows it down,” the police chief nodded. “We can start combing that area rather than scrambling ourselves around town.”

Another MP glanced down at the pictures on top of the table they stood around. He picked one up that Nina had taken of the vault lock. “I know this lock. It’s very intricate and complex. The only person who could pick this lock is the person who made it.”

“Do you know who made it?” Nina tilted her head.

“Yes. The town’s best locksmith. And his shop…” The MP lowered the picture with a solemn look on his face. “He lives in the outskirts of town…”

“Officer, we’re going to need this locksmith’s address,” the chief demanded.

“Yes sir,” the MP took out a piece of paper and a pen.

The chief turned to the trio, crossing his arms. “I’d appreciate it if the three of you could handle this. We’ve still got work to do with the evidence we already have, and the faster we get information out of this locksmith, the quicker we can find that book. Bring him in if you have to.”

“You got it,” Joshua agreed, taking the slip of paper from the MP.

 

 

The three of them quickly crossed town to the outskirts where the locksmith’s home and shop was located. Joshua pushed open the front door of the store and walked in to the older looking house. The entire place smelled of metal and grease. The front part of the shop was wide and open with a front counter spanning the space from wall to wall. And behind the counter tinkering with a door lock was an older man with salt and pepper hair and a well-groomed moustache. He squinted at the lock through a magnifier, picking at it with a metal pick.

“Excuse me, sir. You’re Mr. Andrews the locksmith?” Joshua walked up to the counter with Nina and Trisha behind him. The two girls looked around, glancing at the area behind the counter with interest.

Mr. Andrews looked up from his work at the front of the store. “Ah, yes. Hello. What can I do for you this afternoon?” He stood up and wiped his hands on a cloth, walking over to the counter. He took notice of Joshua’s blue uniform. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a soldier come into my store before. Is something wrong?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard about the theft at the library, correct?”

“Ah…” Mr. Andrews’ eyes widened then appeared concerned. “Y-yes… I have.”

“I’ve been made aware that it was you who made the lock for the vault the book was stolen from. And that only the maker of the lock would know how to pick it open. Is this true?”

“Yes, it was me. And it is true that only I would know how to pick that lock,” Mr. Andrews hung his head and sighed. He then lifted his head back up. “But please, hear me out?”

Joshua nodded. “Yes, of course.”

“I’m just a locksmith. It’s been the family profession for generations. I’ve never once thought of doing anything else. Certainly not alchemy! And certainly not taboo alchemy! That would be absurd!” Mr. Andrews defended himself adamantly.

“Well, Mr. Andrews, in all honestly, we know you didn’t do it,” Joshua smiled reassuringly.

“Y-you do?”

“The vault’s security camera,” Trisha explained. “You’re nowhere near the description of the person we saw on the tape. Unless you magically grew three feet and put on about sixty pounds.” She grinned.

“Mr. Andrews, did you by any chance teach anyone how to pick that lock? Say an apprentice?” Joshua questioned him further.

“….” Mr. Andrews lowered his head once more.

“Hey, what are those?” Nina perked up as she scanned the back of the shop. She ducked underneath the gate on the counter and trotted over to the back door.

“Nina! Don’t just go behind someone’s store counter!” Trisha scolded her, about to lift the gate to go after her.

Nina lifted up a pair of boots, caked in dirt. “These are way too small to be yours, Mr. Andrews. And look.” She held up an evidence bag with a sample of the dirt from the vault hallway as well as the picture of the footprint. “It matches the dirt and the shoe size from the library.”

Trisha turned to Mr. Andrews while Joshua turned and walked back outside the store to the payphone outside. “Please, Mr. Andrews. We really need that book back. It’s dangerous. Please tell us who took it.”

“Alright,” Mr. Andrews sighed. “I haven’t seen the book, but I’m sheltering a young boy. He’s an orphan. He gets into a lot of trouble. He usually only comes around during meal times and to watch me work. I teach him some of the tricks of my trade while he’s here… including that vault lock…”

“And when will he be back?”

“Well, probably around dinnertime, so a couple hours.”

“I guess we’re hanging out here for a bit,” Trisha said to Nina as she ducked back under the counter.

“There’s an anteroom back there. The door was open. I spotted a wig the same shade of brown as in the tape you and Joshua watched,” Nina nodded in the direction of the back of the shop.

“Looks like this kid is our thief.”

“The chief is up to date. He’s given us the go ahead and to call for back up if we need help,” Joshua came back in.

“Now all we do is wait.”

It didn’t take long for the boy to show up. Just like Mr. Andrews said, the promise of a hot meal and a warm bed made him come running back even quicker. Nina moved outside, knowing that when he came in and saw Joshua in his uniform, he’d bolt back out. When dinnertime rolled around and Mr. Andrews had finished preparing the meal for the night, the young boy with brown hair and eyes and tan skin ran into the store. The bell chimed when the door swung open.

“Mr. Andrews! I’m back!”

Joshua and Trisha turned around to see the boy, who had stopped dead in his tracks. Joshua’s eyes bugged out of his head. “It’s you! Kali!”

Kali about faced and dashed out the door. However, Nina wrapped her arms around him and snatched him up into a bear hug before he could get away.

“Gotcha!”

“Let me go! Let go of me!” Kali kicked and flailed in Nina’s arms.

“Hey, it’s okay! Calm down! We just want the book back, okay? If you give it back, they won’t put you in jail, okay?”

At that, Kali calmed down and looked back over his shoulder at Nina. “R-really? I’m not going to jail?”

Nina smiled brightly down at him and let him go, turning him around. She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned down to meet his eyes. “Let’s go inside and talk, okay? Mr. Andrews has dinner ready. You’re hungry, right? You should go inside and eat.” She continued to smile at him warmly.

Kali blinked and his cheeks and nose tinged pink. He made and uncomfortable grunt and turned his head away from her. “Okay, fine.”

Nina hummed and nodded, standing up and leading him back inside the shop.

“Kali,” Mr. Andrews sighed at the boy and crossed his arms. He shook his head sternly. “What have you done?”

Kali hung his head, his hair hiding his eyes. “I-I’m sorry. I had to. I didn’t have a choice.”

“Well. Come and eat. You can explain yourself over dinner,” Mr. Andrews lifted the gate on the counter and stepped aside as Kali walked through. He patted the boy on the head as he went past.

The five of them moved into the house part of the store to the left where a large pot of stew, a fresh loaf of bread, fruit, and drinks were set out. There were five sets of dish and silver ware set out around the kitchen table. They sat around the table and Mr. Andrews served them all. Joshua and the girls thanked him and dipped their spoons into the thick, hearty stew. Trisha hummed in delight at the creamy sauce, tender meat and vegetables and the mouthwatering spices.

“This is amazing. Dad and Uncle Al would go nuts for this,” Trisha beamed.

Nina laughed and turned to her. “They sure would.”

Kali devoured his stew, dipping his bread into the sauce and gobbling it up. “Mr. Andrews makes the best stew in Pendleton! Even the restaurants can’t make stew better than his!”

“It’s very good,” Joshua nodded in agreement.

Mr. Andrews chuckled and smiled gratefully. “Thank you, all of you.” He took a swig of iced tea then turned to Kali, lacing his fingers. “Alright young man. Start talking.”

Kali sighed and set his spoon down. “There was a girl…” He turned to Trisha and Nina. “About your age. She told me… She told me she could bring him back.”

“’Bring him back’?! Who?” Trisha turned her body in the chair, facing Kali.

“My best friend from the orphanage. He got sick. Really sick. The orphanage was broke as it was and couldn’t afford the medicine. They said the only thing they could do is make him comfortable. They let him die! Then, a week ago, the girl showed up and said she could bring him back to life. But she said she would only do it if I did something for her.”

“She asked you to steal the book?” Joshua said more as a statement than a question.

Kali nodded. “She gave me the wig that matched her hair so if anyone saw the camera footage, they’d think it was her.”

“It’s Charity. No doubt about it,” Trisha clenched her fists on top of the table.

Nina laid a hand on Kali’s shoulder. “Kali, how were you supposed to give the book to her?”

Kali looked up at her, his eyes frightened and worried. “She said she’d come and get it. She told me to meet her in the woods at dark… tonight…”

Abruptly, Trisha stood up, her chair screeching across the floor. “Joshua, you go back to the station and tell the chief what’s going on. Nina and I will stay here and wait till dark.”

“What?! Are you crazy?! And do what?!”

She looked at Joshua with determination in her eyes. “We’re going to stop Charity and bring her back with us.”

“By yourself?! You said yourself she’s crazy!”

“I won’t be by myself,” Trisha smiled. “I have Nina with me.”

“Don’t worry, Joshua. We can take care of ourselves,” Nina smiled in reassurance.

Joshua sighed and shook his head. “Alright, fine. But just know if either of you get hurt, your fathers will have _my_ ass for it. Especially yours Trisha.”

“You worry too much.”

Kali tugged on Nina’s shirt sleeve. She turned and blinked at him. “Miss Nina… what’s going to happen to the girl?”

Nina faced him completely and pursed her lips as she thought of a proper response. “Well… she’s gotten herself into a lot of trouble, so we have to take her in. But she won’t be going to jail here in Pendleton. But just know that none of this is your fault, alright? She coerced you into it.”

“B-but Jack! My best friend! She said she’d—“

Nina silenced him by pulling him into a hug. “Don’t worry. It’ll be okay.” She smoothed his hair down and pulled away smiling. “We’ll protect you. Okay?”

Kali’s nose and cheeks turned pink once more and he went back to his food. “Yeah, okay.”

Mr. Andrews chuckled as he watched, spooning stew out of his bowl. He smiled happily as he watched the four youngsters chat as they finished their meal. It had been a long time since his home was this lively.

 

 

Night had fallen in Pendleton and Joshua had left to the station a short while earlier. Kali went and retrieved the banned book from a safe in the backyard and brought it to Trisha.

“Here it is. I haven’t even opened it. It’s been in the safe the whole time.”

Trisha nodded. “Okay. Here’s what we’ll do. I’m going to make a fake of the book. You’ll take it into the woods and wait for Charity like she told you. Nina and I will be close behind, out of sight. When Charity shows up, Nina will get you out of there, and I’ll get Charity.”

“You’re really going to take her on?”

“Of course. I have to.” She patted his head, grinning. “But you don’t need to worry about her.”

Trisha set the book on the counter of the locksmith shop, then set next to it a pile of leather pieces, paper, staining paint that matched the cover of the book, and a binding glue. She clapped her hands together then placed her hands over the materials. Blue light flashed and the materials shifted and morphed, binding together and taking the form of a book. When the light disappeared and Trisha pulled her hands away, there was a perfect copy of the book. Nina picked up the two books and flipped them back and forth.

“Wow. There’s not even any alchemy marks. It looks flawless,” she handed Kali the fake.

“Just make sure Charity doesn’t open it,” Trisha told him. “If she does, it’s over.”

Kali nodded and grasped the book tightly. “How did you do that? You made a fake without binding it by hand.”

“It’s alchemy,” she winked at him. “And it’s how we’re going to stop Charity.”

Kali’s eyes lit up in fascination. He ran his hand over the cover of the book then opened it. The pages were blank.

“Time to go,” Nina announced.

Kali left first, getting a head start, and disappeared into the forest, clutching the fake book close to his chest. Once Kali was far enough ahead, Nina and Trisha set off to follow him.

“Do you really think this will work?” Nina asked worriedly.

“It has to, otherwise she’ll be gone with the wind. We can’t afford that,” Trisha gritted her teeth.

“How’s your dragon senses today?”

“Lacking, unfortunately. Yours?”

“Sharp. He feels like he’s standing right to me.”

“Good. Then you’ll feel Charity when she shows up.”

They walked for about ten minutes before Nina stopped Trisha. She lifted her hand and signed the number 2 and 0, then drew an “m” in the air.

_20 meters._

            Trisha nodded and set off in a circular path around the approximate location where Kali was standing. Then she felt her.

            Charity.

            Nina moved quietly to a spot with more trees. She knelt down and peered through the trees. The darkness of the night and the trees blocking the moonlight made it difficult to see, but she could feel them clearly. Slowly, she crept closer, trying to listen in.

            “Here. The book from the library vault. Just like you asked.”

            “Good boy,” Charity cooed.

            Her voice sent chills down Trisha’s spine. It was so desperate and broken… warped.

            “You… you said you’d bring him back.”

            Both girls’ stomachs churned at Kali’s words. He still believed she would be able to resurrect his friend Jack. They had to get to them as fast as they could.

            “Did I?” Charity tilted her head at the boy, putting her finger on her chin.

            Kali’s heart sank and he shouted at her, clenching his fists. “Yes you did! You said if I stole that stupid book for you, you’d bring Jack back to life! You promised!”

            “I did?”

            Kali growled and lunged at her. “Liar! You lied to me!”

            Trisha rushed forward instinctively, but her boot hit a stiff patch of fallen tree brush and echoed loudly through the forest. Charity grabbed Kali by the throat and whipped around, pulling him against her chest, squeezing his throat. She whipped a slip of paper out of the pocket of her coat and slapped it against a tree, holding it in place. Lime green light flashed and the trunk of the tree swelled and burst forward in the shape of a jagged spike. Too late, Trisha realized the speed of Charity’s alchemy and by the time she got halfway to her, the spike was in front of her. It sunk into her left shoulder and nailed her to a nearby tree. She cried out and grabbed the spike with her right hand. Blood oozed out of her shoulder and streamed down her coat sleeve, dripping off her hand and fingers. She tried to break it but the wood was too thick and strong.

            Nina quickly and silently ran up behind Charity and spun on her toes, snapping her leg around and up, catching Charity on her shoulder hard enough to hear it pop. Her hand went slack and Kali threw off her hand and ran back towards town. As Charity turned, Nina threw a right hook with her palm flat, hoping to catch her in the chest to wind her. However, Charity caught her hand and twisted, then lifted her left leg. Her automail glinted in the moonlight and she snapped it forward, slamming her boot into Nina’s stomach. Nina let out a strangled groan of pain as the wind left her lungs instead. Her eyes rolled back and she fell forward into the grass.

            “Nina!!!” Trisha screamed.

She clapped her right hand against her left and grasped the spike in her arm. Blue light flashed and the wood disintegrated into pieces. She pulled the stake out and clapped her hands once more, wincing. Pulling her hands apart, the top plate of her automail arm shifted and elongated into a blade. Shouting in rage, she charged towards Charity. However, even with the slight gap between them, Charity still was able to pull out another piece of paper and press it to the ground. Trisha barely saw the transmutation circle inscribed on the paper before the same green light flashed and a tree root burst from its confines in the ground. It whipped out and slapped against Trisha’s stomach and chest hard enough to throw her several feet. She rolled in the grass, and by the time she stopped, she was out cold.

Charity whispered Trisha’s name and strode over to her, bending down to pick up the book. “Did you forget my alchemy was botanically based? I learned it from Gloria after all. You entered my domain the moment you set foot in this forest.” She sat down next to Trisha’s unconscious body, rolled her over and pulled her hair back from her face. “I really didn’t want to hurt you anymore than I already have. But I’ll fix you. I promise.”

Charity peeled back the shoulder of Trisha’s white jacket and pulled out yet another slip of paper. She pressed the paper to the wound and quickly transmuted before the blood could render the drawn circle useless. The wound closed rather quickly, main arteries repairing instantly and the skin pulling together until only a blotchy bruise remained.

She sighed and turned to look at Nina. “You’re going to hate me for hitting her so hard, aren’t you? But that’s okay. You’re allowed to hate me. At least that way I know I’ll see you again.”

She opened the book and flipped through the blank pages. All but one was blank. The very last page was stained with black ink in Trisha’s writing. For a moment, she admired Trisha’s ability to transmute words that looked like her handwriting. Then she actually read and comprehended their meaning.

 

_Dear Charity,_

_If you’re reading this, it means my plan was a flop. And in that case, I want you to know that I **will** find you. I won’t let you continue to destroy your own life and the lives of others. I won’t let you break the laws of alchemy again. No one is above the law. And death is one of those laws._

_-Trisha Elric_

 

Despite failing Jun’s task, Charity smiled. She ripped the page out of the fake book and folded it up. Placing it in her pocket, she leaned over and kissed Trisha on the forehead.

“I know you will. I look forward to it.”

 

 

Joshua ran like a mad man, his stomach dropping further down to his soles with each heavy footstep.

_I knew it! I damn well knew it! Why didn’t I just go with them?! I swear to God if that chick hurt them, I’ll…_

“They’re this way! Hurry!” Kali shouted as he led Joshua and the Chief, along with three other MPs deeper into the forest. After one last minute of running, two figures laying in the grass came into view. “There! You have to help them!”

“Stay here,” one of the MPs took Kali by the shoulders.

The chief knelt down next to Nina while Joshua knelt next to Trisha. The sight of her soaked in blood made him want to puke. “She’s hurt…! Wait. There’s no wound.” He peeled a piece of bloody paper off her skin and lifted it up. The paper was soaked beyond recognition, but he had a good idea of what was on it previously. “She… healed her? But why? Why, when they’re enemies?”

“Let’s get them back to the station, then we can theorize,” the chief said, picking up Nina carefully.

“Right.” Joshua tossed the paper and picked Trisha up, not caring that blood was soiling his uniform. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you and Nina alone.”

It was a very long walk, and then a short car ride back to the station. Kali checked in with Mr. Andrews then decided to go to the station with Joshua and the MPs. Nina and Trisha were examined by a doctor they had called upon returning. A couple of female MPs shooed off the men while they cleaned up Trisha and changed her shirt. Joshua discarded her tank top once he was let back in, then took her jacket and borrowed a bottle of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. After a long soak in the vinegar, then the peroxide to finish it off, it was good as new.

“That’s some trick. I never thought that would come out,” one of the female MPs who helped Trisha smiled at him. Her hair was long and blonde.

“Yeah. My mom taught it to me. We’ve all taken out our fair share of blood stains,” Joshua chucked.

He picked up a lighter he borrowed from the chief after slipping on a red glove with an intricate black transmutation circle with sun, and phoenix ruins on it and held up the jacket. He flicked the lighter and crimson alchemy lights flared from his glove. The jacket became engulfed in burning fames and the observing police officers cried out and stepped several feet back. After a short while, the flames went out, leaving the jacket unharmed, but dry. The police “ahh”ed at the display of alchemy and clapped.

Joshua laughed and scratched his temple sheepishly. “Aw, it wasn’t that impressive. I just made a sort of heat vacuum around it to flash dry it. Kinda like a super powered industrial dryer.”

“Could you come home and do my laundry for me?” The second woman who had short, brown hair grinned as she put her hands on her hips.

“Marry me,” the blonde woman whispered to herself.

“Uh, s-sorry…” Joshua replied awkwardly, tossing the chief’s lighter back to him. He had just laid the now warm and clean jacket on top of Trisha when both she and Nina flickered their eyes open. “Oh good! You’re awake!”

Nina tried to sit up but quickly doubled over. “Ugh… My stomach.”

“You’ve got some bruising, but you should be fine once you take it easy,” the doctor, a middle-aged man with black hair, patted her shoulder. “I’ll give you something to take with you for the pain. You took quite a hit, so eat light for a while and go to a hospital if the pain or nausea gets worse.”

Nina nodded and took the pills the doctor handed her in a small paper cup with some water. “Thank you.”

“You’re a strong girl to take a hit like that,” he stood up and moved over to Trisha, who was able to sit up, but remained in a daze. “Same goes for you. A sling for a few weeks and you should be fine. Most of the work was done for me it seems.” The doctor handed her two pills and some water as well.

“She’s fast…” Trisha took the pills and swallowed. “It was stupid of me to think she was weak and unskilled. After all, her alchemy is biological. Her sister taught her and used her alchemy to farm and raise crops. Fighting her alone in a forest was a dumb move.”

“Trisha…” Joshua sighed, sitting next to her, in between her and Nina. “I—“

Trisha set her water down and punched him in the arm with her right hand, wincing when she pulled a muscle wrong. “Don’t even start. Nothing irritates me more than people blaming themselves for the mistakes of others. And don’t start calling me a hypocrite. I know that sounds ridiculous coming from me.”

“Still though…” Joshua shook his head. “I should have went with you.”

“Just be glad I’m alive. That both of us are alive.”

He smiled and nodded. “Yeah. You’re definitely right there,” he pulled Trisha against him and put his arm around her, then did the same to Nina. “You two are pretty awesome.”

Both girls groaned and coddled their wound. “Can I kick Sergio in the stomach when I get to meet him?” Nina curled up into a ball against Joshua’s side.

“Be my guest. I’m gonna kill that guy for giving her weapons like that,” Trisha growled.

“Please tell your brother that as well,” Joshua deadpanned.

“Whatever. You’re guy. You can take a few love taps.”

“Your punches are anything but love taps!” He sighed and patted their shoulders, apologizing when Trisha hissed. He carefully stood up and moved Nina over to lean against her cousin. “I gotta go fill out paper work for the chief, so sit tight until I get back. Also, Kali could use some comforting as well. He’s not in the best shape either.”

The girls looked up and across the room at Kali who sat in a chair at one of the police officer’s desks. His head hung low and his shoulders hunched over.

“Kali,” Trisha called out to him. Kali’s head popped up and he turned towards them. His eyes were blood shot, his cheeks stained with tears. He wiped his eyes and trotted over to them. “It wasn’t just that Charity wasn’t going to bring your friend back, it was also that she couldn’t.”

Kali’s eyes widened in disbelief. “W-what do you mean? What do you mean she couldn’t? She said she could!”

“It’s like you said,” Trisha sat up from her leaning position. “She lied to you. In more ways than one. Human transmutation—specifically trying to bring back the dead—is taboo in alchemy. It’s forbidden, and it’s also impossible. Believe me. Charity tried and failed. As did our fathers. Charity even dragged me into it. That’s how I lost this,” she raised her automail arm up, making a fist. “I tried to stop her, but I failed as well. I lost my arm, Charity lost her legs. And even if she did try and bring Jack back to life, she probably would have dragged you into it too. Do you want that? Do you want THIS?”

“No, but…! But how am I supposed to live without him!? He’s everything to me!” Tears fell from his face as he sat on the coffee table behind him. “He was my best friend!”

Trisha came up blank. She sighed and slumped back against the couch. “That I don’t know… I tried to help Charity overcome that, but look where it got me…”

“Kali,” Nina sat up and took his shoulders in her hands. “My mother is from Xing, the country to the east. In Xingese culture, they believe in reincarnation.”

Kali looked up at Nina with interest. “Reincarnation?”

Nina nodded with a smile. “When a person dies, their soul and spirit is reborn as something or someone else. I promise you, he’s out there somewhere. He may not be human, but he’s not suffering anymore. Or he could be human. He could be beginning a new life with a new family. A happy family. Believe in that, and believe that he’s gotten another chance in his new life. Okay?”

Kali nodded and Nina hugged him tightly. He sniffed and wiped his eyes. “Alchemy is pretty cool though, even if it can be scary.” The wheels turned in his head and he looked at them with determination. “Teach me alchemy!”

“Eeehh?!” Trisha gawked at him. “What the hell are you talking about? That’s no way to ask someone for something!”

“But you’re an alchemist! Both of you are! And that soldier guy is too! One of you can teach me! Besides, since you couldn’t help this Charity chick it’s your fault I had to go through all this! She made me steal!”

“What was that you little punk?!” Trisha grabbed his head with her right hand and squeezed. “You’re the only person who can make decisions for you! Coercion or not, you decided to steal that book, so it’s your fault Nina and I got hurt!”

“You’re alive aren’t you?! So teach me alchemy!” Kali tried to pry Trisha’s arm off of his head.

“Hell no!” Trisha leaned back and crossed her arms and legs, turning her head to the side.

“Why not!?”

“Cause I don’t like your attitude!”

“Fine! I don’t like you anyway!” Kali growled and turned to Nina with a much softer expression. “Miss Nina, will you teach me alchemy?”

“Uh. Well, we travel a lot, Kali. And we’re going to do dangerous work sometimes. Today was a prime example of that. It wouldn’t be the right environment for you to learn in. And I don’t want to put you in danger. I’m sorry.”

At that moment, Joshua came in from the chief’s office. Kali turned to him. “Joshua, will you?”

“Sorry kid,” he shook his head and patted Kali’s. “Nina is right. Also, I’m not much of a teacher. Especially with my alchemy.”

Once again, Kali’s shoulders slumped and his head hung low. “No way…”

“Alright guys,” the chief came out of his office and walked over the group. “As a thank you for all your help, I’ve arranged for the three of you to stay at the inn here in town tonight until the trains start running tomorrow. Also, you’ll have a late night meal and breakfast on me. We couldn’t have done it without you three.”

“Food~” Trisha sang. “We get free food!”

“And a warm bed,” Nina fell over onto Trisha’s lap.

Joshua laughed and shook the chief’s hand. “Thank you for the hospitality.”

The chief nodded then patted Kali’s head. “As for you, young man, one of my officers will escort you to Mr. Andrews’ place.”

“I’m not going to jail?” Kali looked up at him.

“No, of course not. We understand what happened. Plus, I’d rather not slap cuffs on a kid.”

“I’m sorry I stole it. I just wanted my friend back…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Joshua assured him. “Just worry about being a kid. That’s your only responsibility.”

“True that,” the chief nodded. “When you’re all ready to go, we’ve got cars waiting outside.”

Trisha’s arm was put in a sling by the doctor before he left, leaving them with some pain relievers. Joshua helped Nina out to the car then dragged Kali over to his after he decided to ask the girls about learning alchemy once more. By midnight they were fed and in bed, ready to sleep of the day’s exhaustion.

 

 

The next morning the three of them had breakfast at the inn’s restaurant then packed up and headed out to wait for the train. Once on the train and relaxed for the ride, it wasn’t long before someone plopped down next to Trisha, squashing her arm painfully, a huge knapsack over their shoulder, stuffed to the brim.

“Kali!!??” Trisha and Nina shouted.

“What the hell?! How did you afford a ticket?”

“I didn’t,” he hissed to Trisha.            

“What?!” Nina squealed.

“I snuck past the conductor. He’s not very observant for a conductor. Can you imagine how much money they’ve lost cause of him?” Kali pulled out a sandwich and took a huge bite out of it.

“Yeah, and now you’re part of the problem!” A vein popped in Trisha’s temple. “Get off the train! It’s about to leave!”

“No!”

“Kali, what are you doing here?” Joshua asked before Trisha could lose her cool even more.

“I’m not going to take no for an answer. One of you is going to teach me alchemy,” he said with a mouth full of sandwich.

Trisha let out a growling sigh. “You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?” Just then the whistle blew and the doors were locked. “Dammit. We’re still not going to teach you.”

“Huh?! Then what am I on here for?!”

“But… maybe our dads will take you on as an apprentice…” Trisha put her elbow on the windowsill and looked out as the train slowly started to move.

Kali’s expression brightened tenfold and he went back to his sandwich. Nina and Joshua laughed as Trisha growled.

“Heeeeeyyyy!” A faint voice called from outside the train. Joshua looked out to see the chief of the Pendleton MP branch, one of his subordinates, and the head librarian from the library all running at the train at full speed. The librarian carried the banned book in hand. “Stooopp!”

Joshua narrowed his eyes and turned to glare at Trisha. “Trisha?”

She bit her lips and hummed. “Hmmm?”

“What did you do?”            

“I don’t know what you mean.”

_“What did you do to the book?”_

“Nothing!!” She closed her eyes, planning on taking a nap. “It really is a useless book. But I guess with all that blank paper they could make a flip book out of it.”

“Uuuugghhh! You didn’t!!!” Joshua’s head fell into his hands, groaning in mortification. “Dad is gonna _kill_ me!”

Kali laughed and pulled a bag of cookies out of his sack. “Want a cookie? Mr. Andrews made them for me. They’re chocolate chip.”

Joshua groaned again, folding over like origami paper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *waves proverbial white flag with this chapter...* Coming in at over 13,000 words... I believe this makes this chapter the longest one yet... And also the most difficult one. This year has just been... no comment... Especially when it came to my writing. So far, 2016 has been kicking people's asses as far as I can tell. Also I got back into RPing... Omg my brain is so broken i cant even remember if I mentioned that last time. 
> 
> Anyway, I liked this chapter at first... then I hated it for several reasons... and now I'm kinda like: Okay. This is good. End on a good note. (I hope I hope ) I had really bad writer's block with this chapter also. And on top of that, this was the last chapter I actually had planned out so far. ( I wrote faster than I could plan) So hopefully once I get going even more with this, there won't be any multi month long haitus. Haituses? Hai... whatever. 
> 
> And finally... *whispers* Joshua gets center stage for a bit. (Then hopefully Nina gets her turn. I've been struggling with her also. But I had fun writing the Kali and Nina interactions. They're adorable. x3 And Kali is a little shit. He's definitely going to bug Trisha and Edward.)
> 
> Enjoy! I'm sorry! Please forgive me! Until next time. (No haitus this time. Next chapter is an easy one.)
> 
> PS: If you notice any weird formatting (other than the wonky indenting I don't have the patience to fix), let me know.


	14. Blood and Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During a trip back to Risembool, Joshua struggles with his father's reputation and its effects on him. Edward has a heart to heart with the young Mustang. Also, Allan shows up with some bad news.

#  _Blood and Water_

               

                Joshua grinded his teeth as he sat next to Trisha and across from Khali on the train, Nina sitting next to him. Nina was telling Khali about the circles and runes in a novice alchemy book she had bought for him during their short stop in Central City.

They had stayed a few days. Long enough for Joshua to report and get chewed out by his father and for them to stop by his place to rest, refuel and wash any clothes they needed done. Joshua also took Khali around the shopping district of Central to buy him clothes and a suitcase for his trip to Risembool. Their shopping “adventure,” as Khali called it, went pretty well. Khali was a pretty good kid, as it turned out. Kinda snotty and bratty, but Joshua figured he was just acting like a typical twelve-year-old boy. He was like the brother Joshua didn’t have. They picked up lunch for them and the girls and headed home. Khali gloated about all his new clothes to the girls. Nina watched him actively and Trisha passively, just to indulge him.

The next afternoon they were on the train to Risembool, Khali’s new clothes packed in his suitcase, his knapsack packed with snacks and things to entertain him on the train. Joshua sighed, looking out the window.

“It’s kinda weird seeing you in such casual clothes,” Trisha said as she rotated her shoulder, wincing as she worked the kinks out. Once she put her arm down she looked over at him. “Well. Casual formal anyway.”

Today, in lieu of his typical button ups, dress shirts, slacks or his military uniform, he wore a gray long sleeved shirt that hugged his torso, white pants, gray shoes and a gray sport jacket with his typical black, formal coat, which he had taken off and set in his lap for the duration of the trip. The sleeves of his shirt and sport jacket were pushed up to his elbows. His hair was more messy than neat, deciding that he didn’t feel like fooling with it that morning.

“You always dress so grown up. It’s hard to believe you’re only in your early twenties,” Trisha grinned.

Joshua chuckled and shrugged. “I guess I kind of adopted the style from my dad. He said he always dressed older than his age since he got into the military so young. He hoped that people would look at him and see a mature young man instead of an inexperienced kid.”

“It fits you. The style that is. It’s a good style for you. You make it look good,” Trisha turned her head away, her cheeks and ears turning pink.

Joshua smiled as he noticed this. He ruffled her hair. “Thanks. You make delinquent alchemist look good too.”

“Eh?! ‘Delinquent alchemist’?! What the hell does that mean?!” She glared at him. She crossed her arms and looked away again. No blush this time. “I’m not a delinquent!”

“You’re kinda cute when you’re angry,” Joshua admitted, laughing at her typical “I’m angry” mannerisms.

“Whatever.” The blush that dusted her face was worth it.

“Hm,” he hummed, turning back to the window in a better mood than he was.

“So you’re going to stop sulking now?” Trisha leaned over a bit, placing her hands on the seat between her knees, looking over at him curiously.

Joshua blinked and looked at her. He sighed and straightened up in his seat. “You noticed huh?”

“Of course. It’s not like you’re a closed off person. You’re actually more open than most guys I’ve met.” She swung her legs back and forth. “So what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just nervous I guess,” he turned back to the window once again.

“About what?”

“Just… stuff…”

“Let me guess… You’re worried about my dad?” A frown set deep into Joshua’s features and he made a half groaning, half growling noise in his chest. “Oh come on. He’s not all big and bad and terrible. He’s actually pretty sweet when he’s calm.”

“And how often is he calm?”

“Uh… well, let’s just say it’s not a rare occurrence.”

“Uh huh.”

It wasn’t too much longer and the train arrived in Risembool in the late afternoon. The station was quiet and peaceful. The only souls around were the station master, the woman in the ticket booth and a couple of grounds keepers cleaning up after whatever the day brought them. Green plains stretched as far as the eye could see on the other side of a small, quaint little town where Joshua could make out small restaurants and cafes, a bank, a post office, the town hall, a school, a market place, several mom and pop stores, and other small shops and businesses. Joshua could count the times he’d past this station while heading somewhere else on one hand. And all of those times he barely paid attention to his surroundings.

As they hopped off the train with their luggage, Joshua looked around, taking deep breaths of the country air. It was completely different from the muggy city air. Even in the setting sun—which produced the most beautiful sunset Joshua had ever seen—the grass was such a luscious, deep green that he wondered if there was a crayon color somewhere with the name “Risembool grass green.” And if there wasn’t someone needed to create coloring materials with the color of the grass here.

“Wow,” Khali breathed. “And I thought the forest was nice.”

“Yeah,” Trisha smiled as they walked out of the station area. “It may be boring sometimes, but it’s got its charm.”

“And Papa and Uncle Ed helped expand the town too. It gets bigger every year. Lots of new people come here every season to set up festivals and fairs. Agriculture, ranching and tourism has boomed here. Everyone who knows about the ‘Elric Brothers’ and their home town has come here to see what it’s like,” Nina added.

“Seems like a good place to retire for people who don’t want to be bothered,” Joshua nodded.

They had made it halfway through town by the time it had started to get dark. However, when he began to see the stretching plains of Risembool more clearly, Joshua’s stomach started to twist in on itself. The further they walked through the edge of town, the more reluctant he became to the thought of appearing before the house where the Fullmetal Alchemist lived. More and more he was reminded of his own blood ties, and more and more that blood felt thicker and thicker in his veins. Most of it seemed to pool in his feet and legs as his head filled with thoughts of his father’s stories about Edward Elric and how often they fought and disagreed. He couldn’t shake the thought of what it would be like for him to stand in front of the famous, hot blooded alchemist.

Suddenly, his feet couldn’t carry him anymore. He froze in place.

“I can’t go with you.”

Khali and the girls turned to look at him. Trisha raised an eyebrow at him. “What are you talking about? Let’s go. I want to get home before it gets too dark.”

“I’m not going, Trisha. Not to that house,” Joshua shook his head at her.

“Dammit, Joshua! He’s not going to eat you! Now let’s go! Mom is probably making dinner by now. We’re going to be late!”

Joshua sighed and took a slow step forward. When they turned back around to continue walking, Joshua silently turned and ran off down a side street, disappearing from view.

Trisha blinked and turned around to see Joshua gone. She clenched her fist and growled. “That bastard! You coward!”

“Should we go look for him?” Nina asked her in concern.

“Don’t bother! If he wants to run off with his tail between his legs, let him!” Trisha turned once more and stomped off.

Khali tugged on Nina’s sleeve. “Why doesn’t he want to go with us?”

“It’s… complicated…” Nina frowned. “He probably doesn’t feel like he belongs here.”

Trisha and Nina continued down the dirt path until the road split into several different paths. Nina headed left and Trisha and Khali continued straight on, waving at Nina, much to Khali’s distaste. Trisha only rolled her eyes and said that she and her parents would be over for dinner anyway. Not long after, they arrived at the old Rockbell house. Laying outside on the porch was a white, black and tan dog. The dog perked up once it smelled them. Immediately it leaped off the porch and ran up to them barking.

“Woah! A dog! You have a dog!” Khali dropped his suitcase and knapsack, kneeling on the ground when the dog practically tackled him. The dog sniffed and licked his face, making Khali laugh wildly.

“Yeah, this is Duke. He’s the son of my mom’s previous dog,” Trisha patted Duke’s back, his tail going a mile a minute. As if on cue, Winry came dashing out the door to see what the commotion was. “Hey mom! I’m home,” Trisha beamed at her.

Winry’s face lit up and her eyes watered. “Welcome back! Now get in here, young lady! It’s almost dinner time,” she said as if Trisha had only been gone for a few hours.

Khali picked up his stuff and ran to the door with Duke. Trisha followed behind quickly. “What’s for dinner?” Khali asked as if he had lived there his whole life.

“Uh… P-pot roast?” Winry blinked down at the boy. “Trisha, who is this?”

“I’m Khali Andrews!”

“He’s from Pendleton. He wanted us to teach him alchemy but we told him no, so he jumped the train. I told him Dad and Uncle Al might take him on,” Trisha rolled her eyes.

“Where’s your parents? Are they okay with this?”

“Don’t know. They gave me up when I was born,” Khali replied monotonously, scratching Duke’s ears.

“O-oh… I’m sorry. I didn’t,” Winry put her hand to her mouth, as if she could push the words back in.

“It’s okay. I can’t miss what I never had,” he stood up and but his arms behind his head.

“Is Dad here?” Trisha asked.

“Yes, he’s up in his study,” Winry walked back into the house and rushed over to the stove. “Khali, would you like to help me with dinner?”

“Can I?” Khali followed her over and stood next to her.

Trisha set her things near the stairs and hiked up them to her father’s study, pulling his travelogue out of her jacket pocket.

_Time to get chewed out…_

 

 

Nina marveled at the tall, two-story house with the tree next to it. Her father had told her that he and her uncle had reconstructed the house of their childhood from memory with help from a little alchemy on her father’s part. They also ripped up the decayed, burnt tree trunk and planted a new one Alchemy had gotten the tree through its first few years, and since then it remained untouched. Nina walked up the stairs to the front door, turning the knob and pushing it open. Once she opened it, she was nearly tackled by a black and tan dog.

“Daisy! Careful! Don’t knock her down the stairs!” The chipper voice of her mother sounded as she ran over to her. “Nina, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Mama,” Nina laughed, petting Daisy’s head. “I’m home.”

May giggled and held her hand out. “Welcome home.”

“Is that Nina?” Alphonse came down the stairs.

“Papa!” Nina trotted over and hugged her father.

Alphonse hugged her tightly, smiling down at her. “Welcome home. How was your adventures so far?”

Nina set her suitcase down near the couch and sat down as her mother sat next to her and her father sat across from her. Daisy laid at her feet. “I’ve had a lot of fun. We’ve had ups and downs, but nothing we can’t handle. Oh! I got to visit Nina Tucker’s grave in Central.”

Alphonse’s eyes lit up in both surprise and concern. “I see… How was that?”

“I used my alchemy to grow flowers around all the graves,” Nina held her arms out wide.

“Did you?” Alphonse laughed. “But what if the families of the other people wanted to leave flowers of their own?”

“O-oh… I didn’t think of that…” Nina covered her mouth, flustered at the thought that she had done something inconsiderate.

“I’m sure all the families will be grateful,” May hugged her daughter. “I’m proud of you.”

Nina hugged her back and turned back to Alphonse. “I also read Mustang’s files and Uncle Ed’s reports from when you were kids. And Trisha and I were trying to decode Uncle’s travelogue.”

“Brother told me they were stolen as well,” Alphonse grabbed the back of his neck, looking down. “And that Charity most likely took them.”

“She did. We ran into her in Pendleton. She coerced an orphan boy named Khali to steal a banned book. And in return she told him she’d bring back his deceased friend.”

“We heard about Pendleton,” Alphonse handed her a copy of a newspaper from two days ago. “But not that much. They didn’t say too much about what happened. Only that a State Alchemist and two female companions helped retrieve it.”

“They were right to not say more than that,” Nina looked over the article in the paper.

“Nina,” Alphonse frowned. “Since you read the files and reports, I’m sure you know by now what really happened to Nina Tucker… and I can’t help but feel that naming you after her was a mistake.”

Nina dropped the paper and looked up at her father. She raised her hands and shook her head. “No, no! Please don’t feel that way!” She put her hand over her heart. “I’m glad you named me Nina. That way I can live for her. I want to experience all the things she didn’t.”

Alphonse smiled brightly and nodded. “Okay. So long as it doesn’t bother you. You always have your middle name of Lei Fan to go by if you decide otherwise.”

“It’s okay. I like my first name,” Nina stood up and hugged her father, kissing him on the cheek. “Please don’t worry.”

“Okay,” Alphonse kissed her cheek back with a smile.

Nina took her suitcase and headed for the stairs. “I’ll be upstairs in my room.”

Once Nina was gone, Alphonse stood and moved over next to May. “Even though I said that, I’m still worried about it.”

May moved closer to him and leaned against him, her hand on his chest. Alphonse put his arm around her. “I wouldn’t worry too much. She’s strong like the both of us, and she has Trisha to help her.”

“You’re right. Those two are joined at the hip. More so than Ed and I.”

“She’ll be okay,” May smiled up at him.

“Right,” Alphonse smiled back and kissed her.

Nina slowly and silently crept up the stairs after listening to the two of them talk.

Back at the old Rockbell house, the chewing out wasn’t nearly as horrible as Trisha thought it would be. But it was long and filled with “what if this happened” and “why didn’t you just ask me?” One might usually expect Winry to be the master of parental lecturing, but Edward was pretty damn good at it too, if you asked Trisha. Part of her wondered if Mustang had rubbed off on him, but thinking about the Fuhrer only made her think about Joshua, and that irritated her much more than the lecture.

As Nina and her parents walked into the house, Edward and Trisha came down the stairs, Trisha holding the travelogue out to him as they descended. “I’m telling you I’m giving it back! I’m sorry okay? I should have asked first. There, you happy now?”

“And I’m telling you that it’s not about the travelogue anymore,” Edward stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned, crossing his arms at her. “You took it so you could decode it right? You wanted to know more than just bedtime stories. I get it. I knew there would come a time where you wanted to know everything.” He turned back around and headed to the kitchen. “Finish what you started. No daughter of mine is going to quit things half way.”

Trisha blinked at her father’s back then looked down at the leather bound journal. She sighed and shook her head, pouting slightly. “Why does he always have to be so difficult?”

“I heard that!”

Nina and Alphonse laughed and Trisha stuck her tongue out in the general direction of her father. “It really is terrifying how alike you two are,” Alphonse patted Trisha on the head as she walked past.

“Speak for yourself,” Trisha rolled her eyes. “Both you and Nina are deviously innocent.”

“’Deviously innocent’? Isn’t that contradictory?” Nina giggled.

“Not with you two!” Trisha called back as she moved into the kitchen.

“Trisha!!” Edward called from the kitchen.

“I’m coming!!!”

“Who is this kid and why is he saying I’m going to teach him alchemy?!” Edward shrieked.

“Uh oh,” Nina quickly ran into the kitchen, Alphonse following close behind.

“But she said you would!” Kali looked up at Edward, clenching his fists. “She said they wouldn’t teach me so you guys would.”

“I said ‘maybe’!”

Edward grabbed Trisha’s head and squeezed firmly. “You _do_ realize that I’m incapable of performing alchemy, right?”

“W-well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean your knowledge is gone. I mean, you could put it to good use. You teach Kali the foundations and Uncle Al demonstrates them. Easy peasy,” Trisha visibly sweated. She said under her breath, “Besides, he’s stubborn as a mule and he won’t leave till he gets what he wants. He snuck onto the train without buying a ticket just to get alchemy lessons!”

“So you told him that Al and I would?!”

“I said _maybe_!”

Kali grabbed Edward’s shirt sleeve and pulled on it. “Come on, you have to teach me alchemy! You just have to!”

Edward turned and knelt down to Kali’s eye level. “And why do you want to learn alchemy anyway?”

Kali blinked and looked at the ground. “Well… I saw how it can hurt people. And Trisha and Miss Nina explained to me about bringing back the dead. I don’t want to see people suffer, so I want to use alchemy to help people and show them the good sides of alchemy.”

Edward was silent for a long moment before sighing and looking back and up at his brother. “What do you think?”

Alphonse chuckled and shrugged, raising hands. “I don’t see why not. What harm can it do, after all?”

“Alright, fine. We’ll teach you everything there is to know about alchemy.” Edward sneered and got in close to Kali’s face till he was barely an inch away. “But just to have you know, we’re strict teachers. Hellish even.”

Winry smacked him over the head with a skillet. “Don’t scare the boy!”

“Damn, Winry! I was kidding!” He growled, holding his head.

“Dinner’s almost done, so Kali, why don’t you help Trisha and Nina set the table?”

“Yes, Miss Winry!”

“Trisha, has Joshua been by? Have you seen him?” Nina asked.

“No! And I don’t care! If he wants to act like a stupid little kid, then let him!” Trisha stomped over to the cupboard to get plates out.

“Joshua?” Edward blinked. “He’s here? Where is he?”

“We lost him in town. He chickened out and ran off like the coward he is,” she angrily clattered the plates down on the table.

“…” Edward walked over to the living room window and peeked out. It was dark and there was no sign of anyone coming down the dirt road. “Winry, delay dinner for a bit, but don’t let it get cold.”

“Huh? But why?” Edward didn’t answer as he grabbed his coat and slipped his boots on. “Ed? Where are you going?”

“To find Mustang’s knucklehead,” he replied as he threw his coat on and walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

Nina turned and watched Trisha as she ignored the scene.

“He shouldn’t even bother.”

 

 

Edward blew into his cold fingers as he walked around town, looking for anyone that even remotely resembled the most annoying man in the country. Several people who were out late either closing up shop or making late night runs to the store before things shut down for the evening stopped to ask him why he was out so late. He simply replied that he was “looking for a lost puppy,” not offering much explanation other than that. He checked all of the coffee shops that were still open, to no avail. He sighed and made his way towards the town square. And there, in the distance sitting on the edge of the fountain—which had been decorated with marble sculptures of himself and Alphonse, both as a proper human and his suit of armor—was Joshua. More specifically he was sitting there with a bottle in his hands, his shoulders slumped over. As Edward approached him, he knocked the bottle back, taking a large swig from it. As he did, he spotted Edward walking towards him. He froze then swallowed slowly.

When Edward neared him, Joshua lowered his head back down, rolling the bottle in his hands. He didn’t look at him as Edward plopped down next to him. “Why wouldn’t you come to the house?”

“Straight to the point, huh?” Joshua scoffed. He raised the bottle to his lips again. “I knew I wouldn’t be welcome there.”

“And why would you think that?” Edward raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’re joking right?” Joshua looked over at the former Fullmetal Alchemist. “Did you forget what my name is?”

Shaking his head, Edward sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets, crossing his left leg over his right. As he did, his pant leg rode up, flashing the metal ankle of his left foot. He stared at it as he considered what to say to the young stallion.

“Look, Joshua. I don’t hate Mustang. In fact, I respect him in a great many ways. I just don’t like him. Is he a total asshole? You bet your ass he is. But there’s no one else I’d want leading this country. He’s the only one out of all five of the human sacrifices the Father gathered that wouldn’t perform human transmutation, no matter what. Not even when your mother’s life was in danger.” He turned and looked sternly at Joshua. “And to be able to look at your dying loved one and refuse to commit an alchemy taboo… that’s the bravest god damn thing I’ve ever seen in my life. And all it took to talk him out of it was your mother giving him a look that would strike anyone down in their place.”

Joshua’s eyes widened, then he looked down at his shoes. “That… wasn’t in any of the reports or files… All I knew was that he was forced into it.” He sighed. “In any case, my father’s reputation follows me around everywhere like the plague. It decides my friends and my enemies for me. It even affects how I myself act sometimes.”

“I get that, but you can’t let it get in the way of leading your own life. Don’t let blood relations decide your life for you. Live your own life and be the best person—the best individual—you can be. Overcome your blood relations and the judgement that comes with them. Overcome judgement based on who your father is. I can’t tell you how to do that, but I know you can do it. That seems to be one good quality you got from your father. You both got fire in your bellies and skulls made of steel harder than my leg.” He rapped on his metal ankle with his knuckles.

Joshua laughed and nodded. “You’re right there.”

Edward stood up, stretching. “And another thing. Roy Mustang may have been seen as some untamable wild stallion by certain people, and maybe he was for a time. But it took a good, strong woman to prove it could be done. You’re in the prime of your life. Make it last. And by the end of it, find a strong woman that will be willing to stay by you through thick and thin, no matter what crap you get thrown at the both of you.” He leaned over and stared Joshua straight in the face. His golden eyes burned like wildfire. “Just don’t make it my daughter. _Got it_?”

“Y-yes sir, Fullmetal, sir! I understand completely!” Joshua leaned back as far as he could without landing in the cold water of the fountain.

Edward snorted in amusement and stood up. There was something undeniably satisfying about making Roy Mustang’s son address him in such a subordinate, formal manner. One thing was for sure, if he ever did set his sights on Trisha, he’d wring as many “yes, sir”s out of him as he could before he dare hand his one and only baby girl over to Joshua Mustang.

“Heh,” he chuckled to himself, putting his hand on his chin. “Heh heh. I could get used to this.”

The blood drained from Joshua’s face to his feet. _I don’t like that laugh one tiny bit…_ One thing was for sure. Edward Elric threatening you—especially over the welfare of his daughter—was a very quick and effective sobering technique. He barely felt the effects of the spirits he’d bought from the one and only liquor store in Risembool.

“Alright, colt. Let’s go. Dinner is waiting for us. And don’t make me drag you there by your two color hair,” Edward began walking back towards the outer edges of town.

“Yes sir!” Joshua bolted up, running to catch up with Edward’s surprisingly wide gait.

“What the hell were you drinking anyway?” He snatched the brown bottle from Joshua and looked at the imprinted label. “Is this Old Man Johns’ special brew? This crap knocks even the most seasoned drinkers on their asses! What the hell is a kid like you drinking it for?!”

“How was I supposed to know I got the strong stuff? I’m not from here! And I’ve had stronger honestly. Dad and I are heavy weights I guess. That and it’s pretty easy to sober up when you have the Fullmetal Alchemist in your face.”

Edward growled, scowling. “People still call me that even though I can’t use alchemy anymore. It’s depressing when I think about it.” He took a swig of the spirits and immediately spit it out, coughing up a storm. “DAMMIT WHAT THE HELL!? DID HE MAKE IT STRONGER?! IS HE TRYING TO KILL EVERY PERSON OF DRINKING AGE IN TOWN?!”

Joshua panicked as several stores flashed their lights on. He held his hands up to Edward. “Sir, maybe you should keep your voice down before you wake up the whole town.”

Joshua sighed as Edward stomped over to a trashcan and dumped out the vulgar liquid before dropping the bottle inside. He groaned as he was instantly reminded of Trisha. “Why the hell does that cute, adorable little brat have to be so much like her dad?”

“WHAT WAS THAT?!”

“N-nothing, sir! Thank you for having me over for dinner!”

Once they returned to the old Rockbell house, dinner was served, but not after a good scolding to Joshua by Trisha. Joshua apologized almost a dozen times before she simply yanked him down to eye level and smacked him on the head. After that she forgave him and let it go. Edward growled low in his chest as he watched the two of them, Alphonse laughing and composing his older brother. Winry’s pot roast was served with creamy mashed potatoes, braised vegetables, gravy and fresh bread with a cherry pie afterwards for dessert. After dinner, they all gathered in the living room, listening to Nina and Trisha talk about their adventures so far since they left. Once it came out that Joshua had taken his own father’s alchemy research and they paid Jean Havoc a visit in order to decode it, Edward immediately launched a full blown interrogation on Joshua as to the contents of Mustang’s research. Like he was, Edward was completely disappointed at the total lack of compelling information on the topics in Mustang’s research.

“I guess since you know Trisha took your travelogue, I’ll just ask you directly,” Joshua said to him. “Do you know anything about my father’s alchemy? How it works? The missing keys to its formula?”

“Sorry, kid. I know as much about flame alchemy as I do about Mustang himself. All I know is that you don’t want to be on the receiving end of it. I’ve almost lost a few layers of skin myself that time I decided to fight him for my assessment. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.” Edward shook his head. “But… I’ve got a few theories. Nothing I can prove of course, but theories none the less. Some of them are on the possible runes and inscriptions he uses on his transmutation circles. The other is on his ignition gloves.”

“Really?”

Edward nodded and pulled out a notebook and pencil. He drew several different alchemic runes and inscriptions. “I’ve never seen any runes or inscriptions on the circles on his gloves. Only the salamander. But with as powerful and complex as flame alchemy is, despite its simplicity visually, there’s no way he doesn’t have some kind of runes somewhere on his circle. Since you’re an alchemist, I’m sure you know the circle is only half of what’s needed to perform alchemy. The other half is the runes. I haven’t seen your mother’s tattoo myself, but I imagine that the portion Mustang burned off was a vital portion of the runes and inscriptions, along with where and how to put them on the circle. Without that, the tattoo would be useless.”

Edward ripped out the paper and handed it to him. Joshua looked them over carefully then nodded. “Most of these I’ve seen. Some of them I use in my own alchemy. But the others I’ve never seen before.”

“This is just my educated guess, but those are the most likely runes he uses in his circles. As you know, most of them have to do with elements of fire. Some of them represent oxygen, and others represent other chemicals in the air. But I’m sure there’s way more to it than that.” Edward leaned back and crossed his arms and legs. “As for the ignition cloth, I’m positive he gets those tailor made somewhere. And the fibers in the cloth are probably a rare metal only certain people with certain connections can get.”

“But, my father told me he made them himself,” Joshua blinked.

“Think about it, Joshua. That man can barely peel potatoes. What makes you think he’d be able to hand sew together a pair of ignition cloth gloves? Or any gloves at all, let alone a hole in his pants.”

“I… I guess you’re right. So then he was lying to cover up how he got them made. And where.”

“I’ve never seen his gloves up close, but I can tell just from watching him perform alchemy. Those gloves are definitely something to look into if you’re really serious about aiming for your father’s alchemic style. Just make sure this really is what you want to do.”

Joshua was silent before sighing. “I… I don’t know. But I’ve come this far. I can’t just stop now. I have to know how it works.”

Edward stared hard at him before shrugging. “Well, I’m not going to ask you why. That’s your business. But I’m sure Mustang didn’t name you the Phoenix Alchemist for nothing…”

Those words resonated loudly in Joshua’s mind. He always thought his father named him the Phoenix Alchemy because of his alchemic style, but maybe that wasn’t the whole case. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to know just why he named him that. Why a phoenix of all things?

“In any case,” Joshua moved on. “Thank you for telling me all this. It’s really helpful. And… I don’t mean this to sound depressing or like I’m pitying you, but it’s a shame that you had to lose your alchemy in the end. It would have been a great honor to see you perform your alchemy.”

Edward blinked then turned his head away. Simultaneously he grabbed Joshua by the head and mussed up his hair. “Flattery will get you nothing, colt.”

It was part embarrassing and part refreshing to be treated like a kid by the former Fullmetal Alchemist. He also had to admit that it was pretty damn ironic he was getting along so well with his father’s rival. He chuckled and fixed his hair, then folded up the paper after taking a few notes on it, placing it into his pocket. At least now he didn’t have to wait for Trisha to decode her father’s research just to find out Edward Elric only had theories and not answers for him. Still, asking the famous alchemist himself was remarkably helpful.

“You know, technically you should be calling me ‘stallion’ since I’m over four years old.”

“I’ll call you that when you’re older than me.”

“That’s not possible!”

“Then get used to colt.”

“…”

 

 

It was late at night. Nina and her parents had headed home a couple hours after dinner. Kali and Joshua stayed at the Rockbell house with Kali settling into Allan’s old bedroom and Joshua bunking on the couch in the living room, Daisy curling up near his feet.

Nina had been asleep for only a few hours when it started.

The nightmare for tonight.

It began sweet and innocent with Nina and Alexander running around chasing each other in the front yard. Nina laughed happily, rubbing the huge dog’s belly, telling him what a good boy he was. In one of the many windows behind her, a dark, shrouded figure watched her, the curtain pulled back slightly. The peach twilight glinted eerily in the figure’s rounded glasses. Nina picked up a dog bone next to her and held it out to Alexander. The dog gently took it from her in its huge muzzle before tearing into it happily. Slowly it grew darker as the minutes passed, and eventually the dark figure retreated away from the window. Several long minutes later, a tall man with short blond hair and rounded glasses, wearing a seemingly empty yet depressed expression appeared from the front door.

“Nina. It’s time to come in. It’s starting to get dark. It’ll be bedtime soon.”

“Aww. But daddy! Five more minutes?” Nina pouted, hugging Alexander around the neck.

Shou Tucker shook his head, putting on a fake smile. “No, not tonight. Five more minutes and it’ll be too dark to see.”

“Okay,” Nina agreed and ran up to her father. She hugged him tightly around the waist. “I love you daddy.”

A single, weak thread snapped inside of him and he knelt down in front of his daughter, the huge family dog sitting behind her. “Nina. Daddy has some work left to do. Very important work. I think you’d be able to help me with it. Would you like to help daddy with his work? Alexander can come too.”

Nina’s face lit up brightly. “Really?!” When her father nodded she hugged him tightly around the neck. “Yaay!”

Tucker stood up and took Nina by the hand, leading her inside. “Come, Alexander.”

The dog barked and skipped up behind them, his tail wagging a mile a minute.

For a moment, everything was black. But there was noise in the darkness. Screaming, crying, begging, and growling. There was a click of a door, then hushed voices.

“Brother… Big brother… Let’s… play……” The silver pocket watch of the state alchemists clinked loudly against the cement floor.

Again, there were hushed words, then finally, crashing and the sound of solid metal meeting flesh.

“Brother, what are you doing?!” Metal armor clanked and rattled.

“Save it, Al! The first time he used his wife! And this time… he used his daughter… and his dog.”

Her father’s young voice gasped, resonating against the metal shell. More hushed voices between her uncle and Tucker. He was validating his decision—making it sound okay, no matter how depraved it actually was.

“You’re the same as me, Edward. You did it just to prove you could. When you get down to it, you and I are just the same.”

“No… I didn’t… I would never… _I’m not like you!_ ”

                The darkness lifted and she watched as her young, teenage uncle slammed his metal right fist into Tucker’s already bloody face over and over. “Brother stop! You’ll kill him!”

                He didn’t stop. Not until the fused Nina and Alexander padded up and grabbed the red fabric of her uncle’s coat. “No Big Brother… Hurting people bad…”

                Suddenly she was looking into the watery, golden eyes of her uncle, his face streaked with Tucker’s blood. “Nina, this will hurt, but I want you to bear with me.” He raised his hands to clap them together.

                “What are you doing?! You don’t know how to separate them! You don’t know what will happen!”

                “I have to try!”

                “Careful,” Tucker choked on his own blood. “Or do you want them to end up like your mother?”

                Her uncle flinched and slowly lowered his hands. Her father clanked over to the chimera. The chimera padded up to him as he knelt. “You promised you’d come play with me…”

                “… I know…” Was the last thing she heard before her eyes snapped open.

                She gasped and panted hard, her body drenched with cold sweat. But more than that, her chest hurt. It burned painfully. So much so she rolled over and cried out into the pillows underneath her, curling up and clenching her chest. It seemed like centuries before the pain fully went away. But when it did, she was left a sobbing mess, unable to fall back asleep without seeing the deranged face of Shou Tucker and the pitiful, warped body of Nina and Alexander.

                This had been the worst nightmare yet, since she read the reports on Shou Tucker and his crimes. And the most painful.

 

 

                In the morning, Nina scampered off before her parents could wake up, leaving a note saying she was going over to the Rockbell house and that she’d have something for breakfast over there. She didn’t want them seeing through her that something was wrong, especially her father. If they saw her like that and found out she was having nightmares about her namesake, they’d never call her by her name again. She would no longer be Nina to them; she would be Lei Fan. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her Xingese name. It was that going by “Lei Fan” went against her promise to live for Nina Tucker and experience everything she didn’t get to, and she desperately wanted to keep that promise, no matter how painful it was sometimes.

                The walk calmed her down and gave her time to think, and to compose herself. By the time she reached the house she was able to smile easily, and then genuinely once she reminded herself that the nightmares were an easy sacrifice to make in the name of living for Nina Tucker. And it was way less painful compared to what Nina Tucker had to go through. Nightmares only came in your sleep. Nina Tucker had lived it.

                “Good morning, everyone!” Nina chirped as she opened the door.

                Winry looked up from the kitchen table where she laid out fresh fruit, bread, butter, jam, fried eggs, juice and milk and smiled. “Good morning, Nina. Have you eaten breakfast yet?”

                She shook her head and smiled, skipping up to the table. “No. I left before Papa and Mama woke up. I decided to come over here and let them sleep.”

                Winry giggled and kissed Nina’s cheek. “Maybe you should have slept longer too. You still look tired.”

                A bit of panic washed over her, but she pushed it away and smiled brightly. “That’s okay. That just means I look like a panda. I can be Xiao Nina!”

                “Well, you’re tiny enough to be Xiao Mei,” Edward yawned as he came down from the stairs, his hair damp from the shower. He kissed Winry’s cheek and took a strawberry out of the bowl of mixed fruit.

                “But Uncle Ed, weren’t you smaller than I am now when you were my age?” Nina tilted her head innocently.

                A vein popped in Edward’s forehead and his eye twitched. He took the strawberry and rubbed it hard on her nose until her nose was red with the strawberry juice. “I told you never to bring that up again, Nina dear.”

                Winry and Nina laughed as Nina picked up a napkin and wiped her nose clean. She looked around, expecting to see Joshua awake and helping with breakfast, but her eyes landed on his still sleeping figure, sprawled out on his stomach on the couch, the blanket he was borrowing twisted around him. Duke laid on her stomach on top of him. Joshua’s right cheek was smushed into the pillow and his left was being smushed by Duke’s head. She laughed and walked over to the two of them, petting Duke’s head. The dog grunted and Joshua grunted in return.

                “Heavy…” he mumbled in his sleep.

                “He’s probably sleeping off that nasty ass liquor he bought,” Edward shook his head as he looked at Joshua.

                Nina blinked and looked at her uncle. “He was drinking?”

                “If you can call it that.”

                “Is Trisha still asleep?”

                “Soundly,” Winry nodded. “Want to go wake her up? Ed doesn’t dare to touch her even with a fifty foot pole when it’s this early in the morning. Especially now that she has a right fist made of metal.”

                “Hey, I’d rather not be on the receiving end of a steel right hook. I’d rather not taste my own medicine.

                “Yeah, twenty-year-old medicine at that,” Winry rolled her eyes. 

                “It’s okay. I’ll go wake her. I have faster reflexes in case she does take a swing at me.”

                “Your funeral,” Edward scoffed, sitting down at the table and placing eggs, fruit and bread buttered and slathered with jam on his plate. “Wake the other kid up while you’re up there.”

                “Milk or juice?” Winry smirked at him.

                Edward gave her a look that only he could give. “You’re _kidding_ , right?”

                Winry laughed and poured orange juice in his glass, kissing the top of his head. “Juice of course. Unless the milk is in stew.”

                “Just like it’s always been,” Edward smiled. “And just like always you’re the best cook in the world.”

                “I don’t know about that.”

                “As someone who’s been to over a dozen countries, trust me, you are.”

                Winry smiled and moved over to the couch to wake Joshua. She shook his shoulder firmly. “Joshua? Breakfast is ready.”

                “Mmmnngg,” Joshua groaned, his eyes flickering open. “Huh?”

                “Breakfast is ready. Are you hungry?” She chuckled.

                “… I don’t know… My whole body is numb… What the hell was in that alcohol?”

                “No one knows. It’s a family secret and he won’t tell anyone. He’s got his brewery fenced off three meters high,” Edward said as he set the rest of the table with plates then picked up one for Joshua. “Milk or juice?”

                Duke hopped off of Joshua’s back as he sat up. “Got tea?” He rubbed his face. “Or coffee. Something with caffeine.”

                “I’ll brew some of Mrs. Willanger’s breakfast tea blend,” Winry took out the tea canister and filled the kettle with water. 

                “You guys have tea plantations here?” Joshua blinked as he hobbled sleepily over to the table.

                “A lot of people grow a lot of things here,” Edward set Joshua’s plate down in front of him then began preparing everyone else’s plate. “Mrs. Willanger grows tea leaves, wine grapes which she sells to Old Man Johns and the other brewers in Risembool, herbs and spices, and some other crops. She sells her tea blends straight from her home. We buy tea from her and she buys fruit and jams from us.”

                “Wow. So the people of Risembool barely have to import items from the city, huh? Seems like you guys have everything right here.”

                “Yeah, life is pretty easy here,” Edward sat back down after filling Nina’s glass with milk and Trisha’s glass with juice.

                “Why did you twist my bad arm?!” Trisha whined as she and Nina came down the stairs, Kali rubbing his eyes behind them. Trisha groaned and rubbed her shoulder.

                “Oh sure! Like I’m going to be able to twist your automail arm behind you! I’m not that good. Besides, you swung at me!”

                “Morning,” Edward grinned and shook his head. “Plates are ready. Kali, do you want milk or juice.”

                “Juice. Milk is gross,” he plopped down in a chair.

                “See! He agrees with me!” Edward held his hand up for a high five.

Winry rolled her eyes and pulled the kettle off when it whistled. She steeped the tea leaves in a cup of water and drained it into a teacup. “How do you take your tea, Joshua?”

“Milk and honey please.”

Edward and Kali made simultaneous noises and faces of disgust. Joshua laughed and took the cup from Winry, thanking her. “If you like the honey, the florist in town also sells it. She keeps bees in order to pollinate her flowers. The milk comes from Mrs. Robinson’s prized cows.”

Joshua took a sip of the tea and hummed in bliss. “It tastes like heaven. I want to retire here when I’m done with the military.” He smiled and took another sip. “It’s amazing to hear about an entire town of people working together to grow, raise and cultivate everything everyone needs to live. Country life may not be for everyone, but you can still appreciate where the things you use every day come from.”

“I have to do some shopping in town today, and I also have to visit some of the people we mentioned. Would you like to come with me?” Winry smiled and sat down at last.

“I’d be happy to.”

Suddenly the front door swung open, revealing a flustered looking Allan. Joshua turned and nearly choked on his tea at the sight of him. Allan’s eyes went wide and before Joshua could blink, he stomped over and grabbed his collar, pulling a wrench out of nowhere and holding it underneath Joshua’s chin as if it were a knife.

“You have five seconds to explain to me what you’re doing in my childhood home having a nice breakfast, and if I don’t like your answer, you’ll be getting some free dental work.”

“I-I just came here with Trisha and Nina! I didn’t want to at first but your dad dragged me back here,” Joshua held his hands up in surrender.

“Relax, Allan. He’s welcome here,” Edward told him.

“Welcome?! He’s—“

“Joshua Mustang. I realize you have a grudge against him, but the two of you will just have to work that out by yourselves. And don’t assume that people remain stagnant their whole lives,” Edward said firmly to his only son.

Allan growled and glared at Joshua who refused to touch a single thing on the table in front of him. “Whatever. I didn’t come here to fight with you, Mustang. I came here to tell you guys that Sergio Black is missing.”

“What?!” Trisha jolted up in her seat as Nina gasped.

“What happened?!”

“Sergio Black?” Winry blinked, her expression pained. She put her hand over her heart. “Anthony and Zoey Black’s son?”

Allan sat down as a space at the table was made for him between Joshua and Trisha. He talked while Winry made him a plate, her hands shaking. “I hadn’t seen him since you guys left. Usually I see him in the markets every day. So I went to check on him. He didn’t answer, so I looked everywhere around town and asked everyone who sees him on a daily basis. Nothing. So I went back to his house and picked the lock open. His place was trashed. Like it had been ransacked. All of his mechanic’s tools and large chunks of his supplies were gone, and he was nowhere in sight. So I went to the station.”

Allan paused to breathe and eat, continuing to talk after he chewed and swallowed. “The station master told me that Sergio left with two guys a couple days ago. And if that’s the case, since he was seen leaving, no one is going to be looking for him. He didn’t just disappear, people saw him leave Rush Valley.”

“Then we have to go and look for him!” Trisha was hysteric. “Who knows who has him?! Or what they’re going to do to him!? They could be blackmailing him into doing something awful! What if this is Charity’s doing?! Imagine what she’ll do to him! Especially if he refuses to work on her automail ever again! We have to go and look for him!”

“Trisha, calm down,” Edward sighed. “Be reasonable. They’re long gone by now, and it’s just like you said. Who knows who took him? You’d be chasing dirt in the wind.”

“Your dad is right,” Joshua put his hand on Trisha’s shoulder. “There’s nothing we can do right now.”

Trisha fell back in her seat, putting her head in her hands. Edward sighed and rubbed Winry’s back, who was still rattled by the news that one of her customer’s and best friend’s son was missing. Edward picked up the newspaper for the day and unfolded it. The headline popped out at him like a slap in the face. He raised his hand to his mouth, clenching his jaw in disbelief as he read.

“Dad? What is it?” Allan stared at his father.

“Someone… Someone broke into the hospital blood bank in Dublith. Several dozen bags of blood were taken. Apparently the blood came from a deceased donor. They’re not naming the owner of the blood.”

Trisha shot up and dashed up the stairs to her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Joshua raise to follow her but was painfully forced back into his seat by Allan’s rough, calloused hand. “You sit down. _I’m_ going up there,” he said firmly.

Allan hiked up the stairs and was pleased to discover that Trisha hadn’t locked the door. He pushed it open and closed it behind him. Trisha sat on her bed, her knees up to her chest with her face buried in them. Her golden hair fell around her back and shoulders. Allan sighed and walked up to her, sitting on the bed next to her. He pulled her against his chest and hugged her, her automail shoulder digging into his chest.

“It’s my fault. Charity had him taken and she had that blood from the blood bank stolen while she was in the west. I don’t know how she’s doing it, but I know she is. If I find Charity, I’ll find Sergio. I have to find him. It’s my fault he has to go through this.”

“Trisha… It’s not your fault. Charity is the one making these decisions, and don’t give me that ‘I gave her the journal and told her how to decode it’ crap. She could have damn well told you what the journal was, but she didn’t. And she didn’t listen to you when you tried to stop her.”

“Still, I have to find him,” Trisha looked up with watery eyes. “I got him dragged into this.”

Allan sighed and kissed his sister’s forehead. “If anyone dragged him into this mess, it was Charity’s family friends. They could have chosen anyone else to be her mechanic, but they chose the most expensive one.”

Trisha rubbed her chest, suddenly feeling Sergio’s necklace beneath her night shirt. She pulled it out and looked down at it. “I swear, if she hurts him…” She clenched the obsidian necklace. “I need to find him.”

“And you will, but right now, you can’t do anything. Take it one step at a time. Things will turn out better that way if you do,” he stood up and pulled her up, hugging her to his chest. “He’s one tough bastard. Don’t underestimate him, okay? He can take whatever Charity dishes out.”

Trisha hugged her brother back, pressing her face into his chest. She clenched his shirt in her fists. “I know what she’s trying to do now… She’s trying to resurrect Gloria… She just can’t let go of her. She’s going to destroy herself trying to bring her sister back.”

Allan smoothed her hair down and laid his cheek on top of her head. “Don’t tell Dad… but part of me thinks that I’d do the same if I ever lost you… If I didn’t follow you in death first that is.”

“Dad would bury you up to the neck if he ever heard you saying that.”

He grinned and pulled back, holding her shoulders. “Come on. Let’s go finish breakfast.” Trisha nodded and wiped her eyes with her flesh and blood hand. “And don’t even think about letting that prick Mustang hit on you.”

“Ew. That just makes it sound like the Fuhrer has a thing for me.”

“Good, keep being grossed out.”

Any other time, Trisha would have told her brother to let go of the unhealthy grudge on Joshua, but she was too preoccupied with worrying about Sergio to scold him. She took the necklace out again and pressed the cool stone to her cheek.

“Please be okay…”

 

 

Hundreds of miles away in North City, two men, one with short black hair and one with medium blond hair, both wearing inconspicuous outfits led a sullen looking Sergio Black into one of the many inn and taverns scattered throughout the town. The black haired man carried two suitcases and a knapsack filled with the young automail mechanic’s tools and supplies. The blond stood directly behind Sergio, assuring the youth’s continuous movement forward to their destination. They had walked into the ground level tavern and had gotten halfway through the boisterous, congested area when Sergio came to a halt, looking around and observing his surroundings.

Suddenly the barrel of a gun pressed against his spine. “Move,” the blond growled in his ear. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Sergio let out an uneasy breath and slowly moved forward. They reached the check in counter on the other side of the tavern floor and the black haired man approached the female attendant. “We’re here with another person. Name of Jun.”

“Yes, he just recently came in with his niece. He left for a bit, but his niece is still up there. They’re in room 12. Your room will be 14, right next door,” the young woman nodded, handing him a set of keys marked 14. “Have a nice stay.”

“Thank you.”

The black haired man ascended the stairs first, followed by Sergio and the blond behind him. His insides shook violently. He had no idea who this “Jun” was, but he was certain that the “niece” with him was Charity. He took several breaths to compose himself as the black haired man disappeared into room 14, and the blond led him to room 12. The blond knocked on the door and sure enough, Charity opened the door. She let out a wide smile that Sergio found disturbing.

“Good! He’s here! Come on! Come on!” She stepped aside and the blond man behind Sergio pulled out a pair of handcuffs, cuffing him before he shoved him forward. “It’s sooo good to see you again Sergio! I can’t thank you enough for giving me my legs back!” Charity skipped over to one of the beds and plopped down.

“Charity Gordon. Too bad I can’t say the same for you,” Sergio quipped with venom in his voice.

“Don’t be like that,” Charity pouted. “My mother’s friend paid you enough, didn’t she?”

“That doesn’t mean shit,” he gritted his teeth, internally regretting how greedy he’d been.

“Well, here’s how it’s going to go. We’re heading to Xing, and in that country there won’t be any mechanics who can work on my legs. So if I’m going to Xing, it’s a given that you’ll have to come with me. On top of that, I could really use some upgrades,” Charity swung her automail legs, making the joints creak and clatter. She wiggled her feet. “I’m thinking maybe something to help me fight better. After all, Trisha will eventually find me. I need to be ready for her.”

Sergio scoffed and glared at Charity, his nose scrunching in anger. “If you think I’m going to continue handing over my services to a crackpot chick like you, you’re seriously messed up in the head. Find a new damn mechanic. I quit. In fact, why don’t you have this bastard uncuff me so I can come take those legs of mine back. Then you can crawl around on your stumps instead.”

Charity shot up and took several quick steps over to Sergio and swung one of her legs out, catching him in the stomach. Sergio grunted in pain and fell to his knees, coughing up blood and gasping for air, his forehead nearly touching the floor. The irony of being kicked with his own automail was laughable.

“I’m _not_ crazy. I made a promise to two very important people in my life, and I plan on keeping those promises. And you will maintain my automail whether you like it or not. You don’t have a choice.” She placed her booted foot on top of his head, keeping him knelt down in front of her. “And I’ll take down anyone who gets in my way.”

Sergio growled in both anger and pain. He knew his next words were going to be dangerous, but he needed Charity off her A game. If he got her angry, she’d mess up, and if she messed up, someone would find him eventually. Someone would notice something was up.

“Trisha…”

“Hmm?” Charity took her foot off of Sergio’s head. “What was that?”

“Trisha… She’ll find you… You won’t get away with any of this. Trisha will find you, and me. And when she does, you’re finished,” he glared up at her, raising his head slightly. “She will find me. She’s probably looking for me as we spea--”

Charity snatched the gun the blond was holding and shoved the barrel in his mouth, grabbing a handful of his thick, black hair. Sergio’s eyes turned panicked. “What do _you_ know about Trisha? Did she come to you looking for me? Huh?” She took the barrel out of his mouth and pressed it to his forehead. “Why would a sweet, loving, caring girl like Trisha have any interest in a penny pinching, greedy, arrogant and rude brat like you? Other than information on me? You really think she needs you? On the contrary, you need her. Especially right now.”

Sergio looked up into Charity’s piercing eyes, almost going cross-eyed as he looked past the barrel of the gun. He looked at her as he wondered how she managed to turn his words against him. “I… I never said any of that…”

“You don’t have to, Sergio Black. It’s obvious.” She moved the gun, this time pointing it at his throat and trailing it down so it pulled down the collar of his shirt. “Where’s your necklace? You always had a chain around your neck. There was a pendant on the end of it, wasn’t there? So where is it?”

He swallowed hard. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Charity cocked the gun and a chill shot its way down Sergio’s spine. “Don’t lie to me. You gave it to her. I saw her the other day. She had a chain around her neck. Why? Why would you do that? What purpose would that serve?”

This time he picked his words carefully. Part of him soared that she actually wore the necklace. Yet at the same time he worried that Charity wouldn’t let him live long enough to get it back from her. And then he remembered. Charity needed him. She couldn’t kill him. No matter how angry he made her, she needed his skills. After all, she was wearing his automail. A smirk slowly grew on his face.

“I gave it to her as incentive for her to come back to me. I told her I wanted it back. And for her to give it back to me, she has to come see me in one piece. And if she’s wearing my necklace—the most important thing to me—what does that say about her thoughts on me? Huh? Maybe she likes assholes like me. After all, she’s tagging along with that Mustang guy. Who knows what he’s like. He’s the Fuhrer’s kid after all. But she’s not wearing anything of his. Not that I’m aware of. So what does that tell you? Still think I’m just a piece of crap that only serves one use for her?”

The look of anger on her face was truly satisfying before she pistol whipped him and everything went black as he fell to the floor. Charity handed the gun back to the man and spun on her heel, plopping back down on the bed.

“Y-you weren’t actually going to shoot him… were you?” The blond sweated visibly. “He’s just a kid. The same age as you.”

“Don’t be stupid. I need him. And even if I didn’t I can’t move around freely with blood on my hands. I’m an alchemist, not a murderer,” she crossed her arms and legs, her legs clattering. “He just made me angry. I wanted to scare him a bit. That’s all.”

Suddenly the door opened and in walked Jun, his long black hair pulled back into a ponytail and his dark eyes calm. He carried a metal suitcase and a shoulder bag. “I have everything I need, and the most important thing you need. We will be leaving tomorrow afternoon.” He looked down at Sergio out cold on the floor. “I trust you left him in traveling condition.”

“Yes sir,” Charity stood and nodded.

“Good. The rest of the day is yours then. Do not attract attention. Be back here at a reasonable time.”

“Thank you sir,” Charity bowed to him. She grabbed a shoulder bag of her own and scampered out the door.

“Hey Boss? Do you really think she can be of any use any longer? She got what you needed her to.”

“Yes, and then some,” Jun set the suitcase down near the second bed and the shoulder bag next to it. “She’s a very obedient girl, and I made a promise to her. Keeping promises is much more beneficial than simply promising them and never following through. Those you keep your promises to are highly likely to assist you again in the future.”

“I see.”

“For now, you may take the young mechanic next door. Make sure he cannot escape once he wakes up.”

“Yes, Boss.” The door creaked and clicked as he left.

Jun smiled and pulled a thick stack of files and documents out of the shoulder bag, flipping through them. “Not long now… Everything is playing out beautifully.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Lots of character development here. Lots to talk about. First I'll start with Risembool. (BTW, I'm using this spelling because it was the first one I remembered. Yes this is predominantly a Brotherhood/Manga based fic with a few elements from the 2003 anime because they work well and fit well, but I remembered "Risembool" before I remembered "Resembool" and by that time I'd written it quite a few times and posted stuff so... It's staying I instead of E.) In the series Risembool seemed very small and maybe even slightly underdeveloped. Either that or Arakawa-sensei just chose not to show much of how the small little bity country town worked. So for this chapter I took the liberty of fleshing out the brothers' hometown. Hope you enjoyed the little tidbits about how Risembool functions as a "boondock" town as Edward put it in the manga. lol
> 
> Second, I'm slowly figuring out my conflicts/plots with Nina. She's going to have some large parts in the future, so for those of you who are Nina fans, please look forward to them. 
> 
> Third, I honestly REALLY REALL REALLY enjoyed the Edward and Joshua moments. Their interactions are so fun to write and different from Edward and Roy's relationship. I laugh every time Ed pulls a "your last name is Mustang" horse joke. I also thought it'd be refreshing for Joshua to treat Edward with such respect (and a bit of fear) that Ed is just like, "Whoa, imagine if Roy talked to me like this. *evil smirk*" I figured he'd get a kick out of that. XD I might write more interactions for them in the future. Joshua is so different from Roy sometimes it's hilarious and shocking.
> 
> PS: I really hope Edward was written to everyone's liking. He's an easy character for me to just get into the roleplay zone with and just totally get into his character and GO. 
> 
> Also, I'm kind of worried about the nightmare scene. I wrote it from memory and I haven't seen that episode in YEARS. Some lines stuck out more than others. I tried to get the parts I remembered written VERBATIM, so feedback on that would be awesome. 
> 
> Sergio. Poor Sergio. *tear* I kind of imagine his voice to be like Matthew Mercer's. (Levi, Attack On Titan. Leon Kennedy, Resident Evil 6.) Also, we know Charity's last name now. That whole part turned out longer than I expected. Hope it worked out. 
> 
> I think that's about it for this chapter. Next chapter will be a new "arc" so to speak. Mini arc? IDK. Anyway, we'll finally get to see what Joshua's alchemy is all about. *smirks* 
> 
> Enjoy!


	15. The Phoenix Alchemist: Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joshua confronts Allan but forgets about something very important. Thus starts another trip across the country.

#  _The Phoenix Alchemist: Part One_

 

"I can't believe you and Uncle Al actually took in the kid as a student."

"Well, the kid's an orphan, and on top of that he lost his best friend. Charity lied to him and told him that if he stole a banned book from the military library vault, she'd resurrect his friend. After all was said and done, Nina and Trisha explained alchemy and reincarnation to him. After that he wouldn't take no for an answer. At least, that's what the girls said."

"That's insane. She almost dragged that boy into her stupid little conquest to achieve a taboo everyone knows is a lost cause."

Joshua knocked on the slightly ajar door of Edward Elric's study. Once he heard said former alchemist's call of "come in" he pushed the door open. Inside, Edward sat at his desk while Allan sat in the chair in front of it. Immediately, like Joshua expected, Allan glared at him and stood up.

"Morning. I was wondering if I could have a word?"

"Of course. What do you need?" Edward set down the pencil he was holding as Allan strode towards the door.

"Actually, it was Allan I wanted to talk to," Joshua walked in and closed the door behind him back to its original place.

"I don't have anything to say to you," Allan walked past Joshua, shoving his shoulder against Joshua's, grabbing the door handle.

"Allan, wait a minute," Edward halted him as he stood up. "Don't you think he deserves a chance to explain himself?"

"And why would he?" Allan glared at his father now. "Why should I give him the time of day?"

"Remember what I told you three days ago?" Edward reminded him. "People don't remain stagnant their whole lives. Joshua is no exception to that. I know you're upset about what happened in the past, but that's just it. It's in the past. If you still have issues with it, talk about it. Staying angry doesn't solve anything. You also need to ask yourself if you're angry at him for what he did, or if you're continuing to hold a grudge against him simply for his last name."

Joshua hung his head as Edward's words stung painfully in his chest, he turned towards the door. "No, it's alright. I'll leave. I won't bother either of you again."

"You're not going anywhere either," Edward stopped him as he took a set of keys out of a mug on his desk. "In fact, both of you are going to stay in this room till you work things out."

"What?! I can't do that! We'll be in here forever, and I have to get back to Rush Valley! It's been three days and I have customers who need me!"

"Unless their limbs are smashed to pieces, they can wait," Edward went to the door and opened it, stepping outside. "I don't care how you work it out, so long as my office doesn't get destroyed." He closed the door and there was the hollow click of the lock. Then, the sound of uneven footsteps receded down the hall.

The sound of that lock might as well have been Joshua's death certificate, because the moment the footsteps disappeared, Allan turned and gave him a look like he was going to kill him. Held up his hands to Allan and took a wide step back.

"W-wait! Hold on! Before you kill me and chop me up into little pieces I—"

Allan closed the gap quickly and raised his right fist back, socking Joshua in the face so hard he fell backwards on to his back. Joshua groaned and held his face, then put his fingers in his mouth. Pulling them back he was happy to see that there was no blood, nor did he knock any teeth loose. Although he was positive he'd have a bruise on his face for the next few days.

"Ok, yeah, I deserved that."

"Yes you did!"

"But I didn't tell them to jump you. Nor did I want them to. I shouldn't have made fun of you. None of us should have. I realized that later on, and it's even more painfully clear to me now that I've seen firsthand what life is like here in Risembool. But even after I said all that crap about you, even after you punched me in the nose, I wasn't going to retaliate. The others did it of their own accord."

"And that makes it okay?!" From the way Allan balled his fists up, Joshua wondered if he wasn't going to hit him again.

"No it doesn't. And I wanted to apologize to you years ago. I tried to," he stood up cautiously.

"When?! How?! By backing out of that stupid competition at the last minute just so I would come in first and not you?! How is that apologizing?! Don't you realize that the way I saw it, I couldn't even win against you without you taking pity on me?!"

"I thought maybe if you won the competition, you'd be in a good enough mood to talk to me. Okay? That was my reasoning," Joshua sighed, shaking his head.

"You couldn't have just done it before you decided to drop out?!" Allan took a step towards him.

"I tried but you didn't even care to listen! Just like now!" Joshua raised his voice to match Allan's. Allan recoiled at his words. "You're not the only person to pin me down just because of my last name, Allan! There have been so many people of all ages who place false judgment on me just because of my last name, then they won't even let me get a word into defend myself! You're not the first, and you certainly won't be the last!"

Allan opened his mouth to speak, but only air came out. The words jumbled up in his brain like wooden letters in a bag.

"Do you realize that your sister and your father are the only two people in the world other than family friends who haven't judged me before getting to know me? Not even your mother just assumed I was automatically an asshole just because my last name is Mustang. And especially not Nina."

Joshua waited for what seemed like an eternity for Allan to respond, but he never did. Joshua sighed and walked over to the chair in front of Edward's desk and sat down, leaning on the desk and crossing his legs. He faced away from Allan.

"Think whatever you want about me. I'm done trying to convince people through words."

"… Do you really like it here?" It wasn't what Joshua expected him to say, but it was better than nothing, he supposed.

"I do. Your mom is a very good cook. Better than my mom even. Just don't tell her that."

"… Dad told me you said you wanted to retire here when the time comes. Was that the truth or were you just joking?"

"I was serious. I don't lie about things like that."

Allan sighed and shook his head. "Don't think this makes us okay. You have a lot of work to do for me to accept your apology. But I won't kick you to the curb without hearing your side anymore either."

"Allan, I never expected you to like me, or even forgive me. I just didn't want anger and judgment to be the only thing either of us remember about each other," Joshua turned to face him.

"You really are nothing like your father, huh? At least, not according to what Dad told me about him." With that, Allan banged on the door. "Dad! Let us out! Dad!"

A few minutes later, there were uneven footsteps and the sound of the lock clicking. "Finished?"

"Yeah," Allan slipped past his dad and disappeared down the hallway.

"How did it go?" Edward turned to Joshua.

"Better than expected I guess. I'm still alive after all."

Edward nodded with a small grin. "Good. There's a call for you downstairs." Joshua's face twisted up into irritation and contempt. Edward laughed at his expression and waved him out into the hall. "Yeah, it's who you're probably thinking of. I've already had my crack at him. Round two is yours."

Joshua shoved his hands in his pockets, his fingers brushing up against his gloves embroidered with transmutation circles. "Can I torch his ear off through the phone?"

"Not unless you plan on buying me a new phone."

Downstairs, Allan was in the living room packing the belongings he brought with him for his short stay. Next to him on the couch was Trisha who was talking to him about something. Allan cast him a glance then looked away. Joshua sighed and picked up the phone receiver.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I have some bad news," Roy Mustang said from the other side. "Is Trisha and Nina there?"

"Trisha is," Joshua looked over at her, waving Trisha over when she looked up after hearing her name. Trisha leaned in to listen to the receiver. "What's happened?"

"Sometime last night the New Central Library was broken into and robbed. We aren't making reports and evidence public yet, but the list of things taken include several books and files on human transmutation and chimeras. After we found out exactly what was taken, we contacted several other military branches that housed sealed files and books on taboo alchemy and had them take inventory of their vaults. Three other branches reported missing materials. We have no idea how or when these other branches were robbed, but we're working on it. So far there haven't been any similarities in MO to the Pendleton incident."

"Do you want us back in Central to help with the investigations?" Joshua asked him.

"No, we have it taken care of. The military has more than enough staff to get this solved," Mustang assured him. "Instead, don't you think you should be worrying about your annual assessment that's coming up? How's it going by the way?"

Joshua slammed the receiver down onto the dock, his eyes wide and a chill running down his spine.

"Did you just hang up on him," Edward cackled from a recliner in the living room. "Damn. And here I thought only I had the guts to do that."

"Assessment, huh?" Trisha grinned at him. "You forgot about it, didn't you?"

"Dammit! I have to go back anyway!" Joshua speed walked into the living room and closed up his suitcase. "He'll take away my license faster than I can snap my fingers if I don't turn it in on time!"

"Relax. I'm sure you'll do fine," Trisha moved back into the living room, plopping down on the couch.

"No offense Trisha," Joshua said as he hopped around, putting on his shoes. "But not only are you not a state alchemist, but even if you were, you're still the daughter of _the_ single most famous state alchemist other than my own father."

"It's not my fault I wasn't a good enough alchemist for that damn horse of a father of yours!" Trisha growled.

Edward nearly choked on his coffee. He swallowed slowly and nonchalantly.

Joshua threw on his coat, grabbed his suitcase and headed for the door. "Thank you for your hospitality, Fullmetal, sir!"

"Wait wait wait!" Trisha hopped up, crossing her arms. "Who said you're going by yourself?"

"Why the hell do you have to go with him?" Allan frowned at her from his spot on the couch.

Trisha growled and leaned over, getting in her brother's face. "Because I want to! Is that okay with you!?" She yelled at him.

Allan flinched and recoiled into the back of the couch, raising his arm in defense. "Alright, alright! Geez! No need to get cranky!"

Edward snickered into his hand, trying not to go into a full blown laughing fit. Joshua blanched as he watched the two siblings. Trisha huffed and stomped through the house to the staircase. Allan wore a deep set frown as he watched his sister go up the stairs.

"Don't you dare move a muscle! If you move from that spot I'll break your legs!"

Out of fear or reflex—he wasn't sure which—Joshua clacked his heels together, standing at attention. "Y-yes ma'am!"

"Pft," Allan scoffed. "Military dog."

"Shut up, Mecha-head," Joshua growled at him.

Both of them flinched violently when they heard Trisha yell down, "Stop bickering!"

"Dammit! Is she PMSing or something?!" Allan hissed low.

Both boys growled low in their chests as Edward nearly spilled his coffee from laughing too much. "At least she knows how to keep the two of you in line," he wiped the tears from his eyes. "That's my girl."

* * *

Hours later, Joshua, Nina and Trisha were back in Central once more, this time without Kali. Once inside Joshua's home, the girls set their suitcases in their usual place: Joshua's bedroom. Since Joshua's place wasn't the biggest and he refused to let the girls sleep on the couch, every time they stayed at his place, especially the first couple of months they stayed there, the girls took his bed and Joshua bunked on the couch. Some nights the couch cut into his back, but he didn't care one bit. He was a man. He could take a few sharp coils in the back. And when Kali stayed with them for their stop on the way to Risembool, he thankfully didn't care about sleeping on the couches with Joshua. He figured it didn't bother the kid because he had probably slept in way worse places than his old couch. However, he did make sure the sheets on his bed were changed and washed regularly, something he always forgot about before the girls came into his life. In fact, since he had been spending all of his time with them, his home had gotten progressively cleaner and neater. Even the sink managed to stay half way empty most days.

"I'm going to meet with my dad," he said as he grabbed his military uniform, heading for the bathroom to change. "We're probably going to be here for a while since I have my assessments, so if we need anything while I'm out tell me now."

"Tea! We're running low on our favorite," Nina chirped as she looked in the cupboards. "And milk."

"Forego the milk," Trisha said immediately.

"Yes milk!"

"How about a half-gallon?" Joshua rolled his eyes with a smile, closing the bathroom door. He sighed and stripped his shirt off. Trisha and Nina sure could be a handful sometimes, but they were fun to be around. And taking care of them at times wasn't so bad either. Even when he wanted to pull his hair out.

There was a knock on the door as he unbuckled his belt. "Joshua! The fruit went bad while we were gone! And so did the cheese!" Nina said in her bubbly voice.

"Alright. Can you and Trisha make a list of things we need and I'll go shopping afterwards?"

"Okay!" Her soft footsteps padded away.

Once he had his uniform pants and his dress shirt on, he sat down on the side of the bathtub, reflecting.

This marked the third year that he held the title of the Phoenix Alchemist. Edward Elric's words rang in his head at that title. What did phoenixes represent? Rebirth. Resurrection. Renewal. Longevity. Eternal life. Transformation. These were just a few of the long list of symbolic meanings associated with the phoenix. Why did his father give him such a powerful name? There wasn't really much to his alchemy in his opinion. It was more chemistry and pyrotechnics than alchemy. The alchemy factor just amplified everything he did exponentially.

Well, then there was _that_.

People who saw his alchemy—even other alchemists—always said that it looked like he was using magic rather than alchemy when he did _that_. No one could figure out how he did it. In reality it was very simple. Maybe that was it. It was so simple and inconspicuous that it was an enigma for the alchemists of today, and even of the previous generation. After his father's time as the Flame Alchemist and Edward Elric's time as the Fullmetal Alchemist, he couldn't blame them. The two men had done some pretty exceptional feats of alchemy, all without the Philosopher's Stone—without using the energy of the human soul to do it.

He wasn't _that_ good. He didn't deserve something so heavy as the "Phoenix Alchemist." He was pretty sure his father had his techniques figured out already. And if Trisha or her father ever saw him perform his alchemy, he was damn sure they'd figure him out in the blink of an eye.

There was one way to test it.

He slipped on his uniform jacket, leaving it unbuttoned for now, and walked out of the bathroom. Trisha sat on one of the couches, her father's travelogue opened up to a page and many sheets of notepaper spread out around her. Nina sat across from her on the other couch, enjoying a cup of tea while she watched her "sister" work.

"You're really going to decode that without the files?" Joshua raised an eyebrow, grabbing an inscribed lighter that Jean Havoc had gifted to him on his eighteenth birthday off out of a bowl of several other lighters. He didn't smoke, but he found lighters useful for many reasons, and it was somewhat of a hobby of his to collect them.

"It's not that hard. I remember everything from the files. That and my dad told me I could call and ask if I got stuck."

"Not that you would," Joshua flicked open the lighter and ignited it, watching the flame flicker. He looked over at Trisha and released the gas button on the lighter. "Hey, do me a favor."

He pulled out his alchemy gloves. White ones with a fairly large transmutation array that almost spilled outside of the back of his hand. Within the double circles and arrangement of triangles and runes was a birdlike form that overlapped with the circles and spilled outside of them. A double helix of runes in an old forgotten language, read only by alchemists spiraled around the bird.

Trisha blinked at him as she watched him pull out his gloves and slip one of them on, placing the other back in his pocket. The circle array on the back intrigued her. She wanted a closer look so she could make out what the runes were and what the words said. With circles like that, she could only imagine what kind of alchemy he was capable of.

Joshua moved over to the couch Trisha sat on and sat facing her. Trisha's cheeks heated up as he faced her. However, when he lifted up the lighter and ignited it, she became intrigued. He let the flame flicker for a couple seconds, then a glow of crimson and orange alchemic light flashed around his hand as he held the lighter.

And then the flame danced.

Very quickly, the flame warped and reshaped itself into a bird. A phoenix more precisely. And then the phoenix grew. The flame built on itself, making the bird larger until it was the size of her face and floated a good three inches above the mouth of the lighter, a trail of flame leading from the tail to the lighter. Suddenly the bird took off, darting around the room, missing drapes and other flammable objects by mere inches. It lit a set of decorative candles he had mounted on a wall before flying back towards them, rolling itself into a ball and shooting back down into the lighter. Joshua released the gas button and the magic flame disappeared.

Trisha's eyes widened and sparkled as she gasped in awe. Nina too was speechless. "Whoa!" Trisha exclaimed, surprising Joshua. "How did you do that!? It was like you were controlling the fire! Like magic! How did you do that!?" She clenched her hands in front of her.

Joshua blinked and leaned back. "Y-you really don't know?"

It was Trisha's turn to blink in confusion. "What? Why would I? Even if it's simple, it's like you said about your father's alchemy. It's not that simple underneath the surface. So I really have no idea how you did it. Especially something as extravagant and over the top as that."

Joshua was flabbergasted. Trisha Elric really didn't have a clue how he performed his phoenix alchemy. He looked to Nina who shrugged and shook her head. Neither of them could figure it out. He groaned in frustration. "Oh come on! It's really not that hard! How could you guys not figure it out just from that?"

Neither of them responded and he sighed, standing up. He went into his bedroom then returned with a large leather case. He set it down on the coffee table, then spun in the code on the combination lock. Opening it up, he revealed a wide array of small flasks, test tubes, containers, bundles of different materials and several other things the girls couldn't identify. Nina moved over to the couch by Trisha. The two girls watched in awe. Joshua pulled out a piece of material that was silver and looked like a table cloth, only much smaller. He moved the case and set the cloth down on the table, unfolding it. Drawn on the cloth was a transmutation circle. The very same one on Joshua's gloves. He took the glove off of his hand and stuffed it in his pocket with the other.

Turning to the case once more, he picked up six small glass bottles with cork tops. He organized them then sat them down on the table. One by one he popped the corks then dumped a small amount of each onto the cloth in a straight, vertical line. He replaced the corks then set the bottles aside.

"Okay, now watch closely," he said, turning to the girls.

Turning back to the set up in front of them, he placed his hands on the circle. The circle glowed crimson and orange sparks flickered over the six piles of material. Suddenly, the materials sparked and ignited into six different colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. The flames danced for a moment before one by one they shot up and over into an arch, from the piles to another spot on the table. The six flame arches all formed a burning, flickering rainbow of color that stayed for about five seconds before dissipating into nothing, leaving six scorched piles of used up material.

The girls wow'ed and clapped. "That was amazing!" Nina cheered. "It was so pretty!"

"Okay, now tell me how I did it," Joshua told them, leaning back against the couch and crossing his arms.

Trisha hummed and moved closer to the table, looking at the remnants of the six materials. "Well, as for the colors, that's easy. The red flame was strontium chloride. The orange was calcium chloride. The yellow was sodium carbonate. The green was cupric sulfate. The blue was cupric chloride. And the violet was potassium chloride."

"Yes that's right," Joshua nodded. "What else?"

"Well, you also sparked the materials without a lighter or flame source," Nina pointed out. "So somehow you started a fire on each one with alchemy. Did you manipulate the atmospheric content around the materials so that sparks formed?"

"Yes, but how?"

"That's easy too," Trisha crossed her arms and nodded. "You put the molecules of each element in the air into an agitated state so that they create enough friction between each other and sparks form." She sighed and shook her head. "It's the flame pattern I don't get. Fire doesn't move in that way normally. Usually in order to make a pattern out of flame you have to pour something highly flammable like gasoline into the pattern and then—"

The girls looked at each other and grinned. "Oxygen currents!"

Joshua smiled and nodded, sitting up and unfolded his arms. "Yep. That's exactly right. I use concentrated currents and pockets of oxygen and other catalysts to form, shape and move fire how I want. Then I use different materials and chemicals to change its composition and use. I can also revive 'dead' materials, like these burned compounds or even wet dynamite, provided I have the right materials to do so."

"That's incredible," Trisha grinned at him. "I never would have figured it out if I hadn't sat and thought about it rationally. Your style of alchemy really makes it hard for even scientists—let alone everyday people—to not jump to conclusions. It really does look like magic. In essence, the theatricality of your style acts as a distraction from the science of it. The less a person understands something, the more vulnerable they are to it. It's genius."

Joshua blinked and nearly recoiled at her praise of his style. "Genius? Hardly. I'm sure my father or even yours would have been able to think of something like this. I'm sure my father has it figured out. He probably did the moment he first saw it."

"Maybe, maybe not," Nina shrugged. "You never know. He may have had to sit and mull over it like we would have, had you not given us a second demonstration."

He sighed and turned to clean up the mess of burnt chemical compounds and his cloth. "Maybe. It'd doubtful though. My alchemy really isn't so complicated."

"No, but it's simple enough to where it's not painfully obvious," Trisha crossed her arms underneath her chest. "You should give yourself more credit."

Folding up the cloth and placing it back in the leather case, he smiled at the girls. "I'm glad you two think highly of me, if no one else. Thanks, girls."

Trisha rolled her eyes and started to protest, only to have Nina grab her arm, shaking her head. "You're welcome, Joshua," Nina responded for them both.

About ten minutes later, Joshua was out the door with the list of groceries Nina had written for him. Once the door was closed and they were sure Joshua was gone, Trisha turned to Nina.

"What the hell do you think all that was about?"

Nina shook her head. "I don't know. Obviously he was looking for some sort of validation or proof, or maybe even just testing his own power to see how unique it truly was." She wandered around the room, picking up stray clothing and dishes, tidying things up as she went. "After all, the state alchemist program still only accepts the best alchemists. That hasn't changed. Maybe with his assessment coming up he's questioning whether or not he really deserves to be one."

"So you're saying he thinks his alchemy is weak?" Trisha crossed her arms once more and leaned back against the couch, crossing one leg over the other. "Well he's dead wrong. Today might have been the only time we've seen his alchemy, but I could tell just from that demonstration that his alchemy is not to be underestimated."

Nina gave her sister a long hard stare. "Sister… You're Uncle Ed's daughter, and the only one of his kids that can do alchemy. He may not have the ability to perform alchemy anymore, but haven't you ever felt like you were standing in his shadow before? Like no matter what you come up with, your alchemy will never be as strong as or as great as his?"

Trisha blinked at Nina then looked down at the metal knuckles of her automail hand. She sighed lightly. "Well… yeah, of course. Sometimes. But if we lived our lives letting our parents' shadows loom over us, we'd never get anywhere. Not as individuals and certainly not as the human race. It isn't always about being better than our parents. It's about what we ourselves can contribute to the world relative to ourselves."

"Then maybe Joshua just hasn't gotten to that place yet to where he can say with confidence that he as an individual has created something that benefits society. Something he can be proud of." Nina took the dishes to the sink, dropped the clothes in the dirty laundry hamper then came back into the living room to strip Joshua's sheets and blankets that he had set out on the couch he usually slept on. "We just have to make him see that he is a great alchemist deserving of his title."

"Yeah," Trisha scoffed. "Easier said than done."

* * *

Joshua sat in his father's office at the Mustang mansion. He sat on one of the couches and his father sat in one of the armchairs. A tray of tea and cookies had been set out on the coffee table. His father, on the other hand, was enjoying a cup of the finest coffee in the country, but Joshua thought that a large bottle of cold Cretean Cream sounded great right about now. He poured a healthy amount of sweet cream and two spoons of sugar into his tea and tried to imagine that the liquid in the cup was something much, much harder.

"Maybe instead of showing your accomplishments of the past year, you can show the State Alchemists' Committee your plans for the future," Mustang offered as he sipped his coffee. "You know. Give them a game plan worth approving you for. Something for them to look forward to. Something they'll want to keep throwing money at."

Joshua popped a linzer cookie into his mouth and washed it down with his tea. The sweet and sweeter combination made him cringe. Maybe trying to turn his tea into Cretean Cream wasn't such a good idea after all.

"It was just a suggestion," Mustang teased him with a laugh.

Joshua gave his father a pointed look. "That's not what I was… Never mind. It's a good idea. That is if I actually had something to make them look forward to. The truth is, I'm not exactly sure where else to go with my alchemy. I know there's always room for improvement with anyone's alchemy, but I just can't figure out where to start. And I don't want my alchemy to reach the point where people start thinking, 'hey, you know. That would make a great weapon of war. Let's put him on the frontlines and make him create nukes out of our enemies' dead bombs and old ammunitions depots.'"

The smile Mustang gave was amused, but also pained. "No, we definitely don't want that. No matter how quickly we'd end up winning our wars. I never—and I still don't—want you in the business of warfare in the military. No one wins in war, no matter what anyone says. Both sides always lose something."

Joshua nodded. "I like my humanity, thank you very much. I became an alchemist to help people, not kill them." He downed the rest of his tea.

Mustang gave him a pointed look this time. "We both know that wasn't your only motivation."

"Yeah well," he rolled his eyes. "I still didn't get what I wanted. So helping others is all I have at the moment. And I'd like to develop that side of my alchemy more. Not just making things go boom and creating pretty, colored light shows out of fire. As much as I like pyrotechnics, if I wanted to make pretty fireworks I'd have used my alchemy for just that: fireworks."

"I have to agree with that as well," Mustang nodded and finished his first cup of coffee, pouring himself another.

"What, that I should stick to people pleasing, or that fireworks would have been the lesser career choice?"

"Both," his father rose his cup to his lips.

Joshua growled and opened his mouth to speak when he heard the door click open. His father's home secretary—a cute strawberry blonde with her hair in a bun and emerald green eyes—peeked inside. Her name was Josephine, but for as long as he could remember Joshua had always called her Josie. She referred to him as Josh and some of the other staff joked around that together they were the "Jo-Jo twins." At one point there had been rumors about them since she was only a few years older than him, but she was more like an older sister to him.

"I'm sorry, sir. May I pull you away for a moment? There's a call for you," she said in her bubbly voice.

"Yes, I'm coming," Mustang stood up, taking his coffee cup with him. He turned to Joshua. "I'll be back shortly."

Joshua nodded and watched as Josephine side stepped to let him out. She turned and smiled at him. "Hello, Josh. How's it going?"

"Eh. You know. It's going," he smiled back.

She giggled and shook her head. "We should get lunch sometime. We've both been busy lately. You more than me I think."

Joshua nodded with a smile. "Yeah, definitely."

"To lunch or you being busier than me?" Josephine grinned as she turned to walk back out the door.

"Both," Joshua laughed.

After a minute of sitting and twiddling his thumbs, Joshua stood up with a sigh. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked around his father's office, looking at all the bookshelves, picture frames, file cabinets and everything else that was contained in the large room. When he passed the desk, he scanned it with his eyes, looking at nothing in particular, yet at the same time taking in everything on the desk. He reached out and picked up a picture frame, turning it over to look at the face of it. He wasn't sure what to think when he saw the picture it contained. It was a picture of his mother holding him, both of them smiling. He was probably no older than four or five. The tiny Joshua in the picture wore a huge, goofy grin and waved at the camera. He knew that it was his father who was behind the camera.

A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth as he set he picture back how it was. As he did, he caught a sight of something white and strangely shaped in the dust bin next to the desk. Blinking, he looked down into the bin.

It was one of his father's ignition gloves.

His blood froze, a cold sweat forming on the back of his neck. He glanced back at the door, seeing that it was mostly closed but slightly ajar. He had heard his father talking on the phone just a couple minutes earlier, but now the anteroom was completely silent. When Joshua looked back to the glove in the dust bin, his heart stopped. Leaning over, he carefully picked it from the bin, turning it over in his hands. The transmutation circle was in shreds. No wonder he threw it out. But in a place so careless as the dust bin in his office? Then again, it wasn't like this was the Central Headquarters. This was his home. His home with guards and security systems and everything else.

"I rescheduled your meeting for next week, sir," he heard Josephine speak.

"Thank you. Did you also schedule the recruits' banquet?"

"Yes."

Panic took over and Joshua stuffed the glove into his jacket pocket, careful not to rub the fabric against itself. The last thing he needed was to set himself on fire. He quietly rushed back over to the couch, siting in his original spot and leaning back against it. He took a long, silent breath, hoping his expression didn't give him away as his father walked in.

"Sorry about that. I went to get some files from another room," Mustang said as he sat back down in the armchair. He set the stack of files down on the table. Looking up at his son, he blinked. "You feeling okay? You look pale."

"Do I?" He silently rejoiced as his voice came out nonchalant. He rubbed his cheek then his forehead. "Maybe I'm coming down with something."

"If you are, keep it away from me," Mustang half joked. "I'll send over some of your mother's chicken soup."

"The girls would like that," Joshua nodded. He leaned forward, taking the file on top of the stack. "So what's all this?"

"These are about half of the reports I did during my time as a state alchemist for my yearly assessment. I figured I'd give you some to read over. Maybe it'll give you some ideas."

"Wow. Awesome," he flipped through the file, scanning over the contents. "Whoa. This is from when you were still a Colonel in East City. Should be a page turner."

Mustang chuckled and patted the stack. "Take them home with you. Get them back to me when you can. Keep them for as long as you need and if you want to read over the other half, let me know."

"You bet I will," Joshua grinned, placing the file back on the stack. "Thanks. This should get me started for now."

Mustang nodded and the two of them stood up, Joshua picking up the files. Mustang squeezed his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I know you'll pass. The committee would be stupid to recommend putting you up for revocation."

With a chuckle, Joshua grinned up at him. "Thanks, Dad."

"No problem," Mustang walked back to his desk as Joshua left the room.

Joshua made his way to the front of the mansion as quick as he could, praying that his father didn't notice the missing glove until he left, or better yet at all, but that was doubtful. Once he was outside with the files under arm, he pulled the glove out of his pocket, looking over it again. He grinned to himself then slipped it back in. Picking up the pace, his heart sped up to match his footsteps. The quicker he got home, the quicker he could pick the glove apart.

* * *

When Joshua returned home, having remembered to stop by the store at the last minute to pick up groceries, he set the bags in the kitchen then raced into his room where a couple of desks were set up with several research materials, including a microscope. Joshua was so distracted, Trisha's voice didn't even register when she spoke to him. Trisha had stared at him with an expression of confusion. However, she had seen this particular behavior in both her father and her brother. She knew that when men—scientists and mechanics specifically—got like this, there was no talking to them until they did what they had set out to do. So she left him be and helped Nina put away the groceries.

"Looks like his trip home helped him out big time," Trisha said as she put the carton of milk in the fridge, debating on whether or not she could get away with dumping it down the drain and putting the empty carton in the fridge instead.

"Yeah, I agree," Nina responded as she snatched the carton away from her sister when she saw her hovering it over the sink. She gave her a pointed look and instead pushed the bag filled with dry goods towards her. "I wonder what Fuhrer Mustang said to him?"

"Don't know," Trisha frowned and shrugged, pulling out cans and bread. "We won't know until he becomes responsive again."

"Like Allan and Uncle Ed," Nina giggled.

It was about five minutes later when they finished putting away the groceries when a loud "Holy shit!" came from Joshua's room. The girls looked at each other then rushed out of the kitchen and into the bedroom. Joshua stood up, his chair knocked over as he leaned over a microscope. He fiddled with some sort of fabric underneath the lens.

"What happened?" Trisha asked as she rushed up to the desk. "What is that?"

"I can't believe that's how it works," Joshua said to no one in particular.

"How what works?" Nina picked up what looked like a demolished glove. "This?"

Trisha looked at the glove in Nina's hands, and when she flipped it over Trisha took it from her, gasping. She smoothed over the ripped section. There was extensive damage to the transmutation circle, but all she needed to see was the salamander at the top. Trisha and Nina looked bug eyed at each other before turning to Joshua.

"Did you steal this?!"

"It was in his trash bin in his office. That means it's free game."

"You dumbass! That only applies to trash that's left on the street for collection!"

"Which means it would have gotten put out anyway. But that's not important, look." Joshua stepped away from the microscope.

Trisha blinked at him but looked into the microscope anyway. "What the hell?"

"Let me see!" Nina put her eye to the lens when Trisha moved away. Through the microscope there were several frayed white threads along with other threads that were shiny and almost metallic. "Are those… metal fibers?"

Joshua nodded. "They were woven into the fabric. I cut out a piece of the glove and put it under the microscope. I noticed there was something shiny in the threads when I shined light on it, so I pulled some of the strands apart and those fibers are what I pulled out of them. They're the same size as the thread but they're strong and flexible enough to be woven into the fabric."

He pulled the glove under the microscope instead, placing the fingers underneath the lens. "And look. They're more concentrated near the fingertips. And besides that, when you rub two fibers together, they don't do anything. But if you take a bunch of the fibers along with the thread." Joshua took some of the thread and fibers in each hand and rubbed them against each other firmly. Sparks popped up from the strands.

"It sparks," Trisha nodded. She took the glove into her flesh and blood hand, feeling the texture of it, then she pulled on it with her metal hand. "It's durable too, except for when you have a sharp knife or blade, which is surprising given the size and thickness of the metal fibers."

"That's why I'm confused," Joshua crossed his arms and shook his head. "This is no ordinary metal for it stay fairly strong and durable yet flexible when turned into such thin strands. I don't even know what kind of blacksmithing skills it would take to make metal fiber like this."

Trisha hummed, rubbing her chin as she looked at the glove in thought. "Maybe… Maybe my dad would know." She looked up at Joshua. "He's been pretty much everywhere. Maybe he'll know something about it."

Joshua blinked then grabbed Trisha by the shoulders, shaking her. "You're a genius!" Nina laughed at the flustered expression Trisha had on her face.

In the living room, Trisha spun in the number for home and handed the receiver to Joshua. "Hello?" The Fullmetal Alchemists' voice sounded on the other end.

"Hello, sir. It's Joshua. Sorry to bother you, but as it turns out I have something you might be able to help me with," Joshua stood up straight out of habit, even though the former state alchemist on the other end couldn't see him. Behind him, Trisha scoffed and laughed.

"Oh really? Let's hear it then. What's up?"

"Well, I happened to get my hands on a particular fabric. When I examined the fabric under a microscope, I discovered that the fabric had metal fibers woven into it. The fibers were strong for their size and were very flexible. Almost like regular thread."

"Really? That's interesting. Was there a purpose for the metal fibers in this particular fabric."

"Uh… well…" Joshua bit his lip nervously.

"Let me guess," there was a grin in Edward's voice. "Is this particular fabric you got your hands on Mustang's ignition cloth?"

"Um… I admit to nothing."

Edward laughed on the other end. "Fair enough. So, metal fibers woven into the fabric, huh? So that's how he does it."

"Yes, sir. I was wondering if you've seen or heard of any place that does anything like that in your travels."

"Hmmm. Now that I think about it…" Joshua's heart stopped. "There was a mining town Al and I passed through on our way to Youswell. They were famous for fabrics with metal fiber woven into them. So much so they were commissioned to make special uniforms for the military. They apparently acted like chain mail to make the fabric stronger. Rumor has it that when the uniforms were worn with other bullet resistant protection, they could stop bullets from fully penetrating flesh. Although I imagine the fibers for the uniforms would be thicker cut than those used in the ignition cloth."

"In order to prevent sparking," Joshua added with a nod.

"Exactly. Actually, when I visited the town, I left with samples of the fabric. In red of course. I was planning on using it for my red coat."

"Bullet resistant coat for an alchemist that's constantly being shot at," Joshua chuckled humorlessly. "Good idea."

"I know right! Except the samples ended up getting lost during our travels and I never had the opportunity to go back. Not to mention I had no idea if they would even give me that much again. Especially after I ceased to be a State Alchemist."

"Dammit," Joshua sighed. "But I'm sure you remember what town it was, right?"

"Of course. I'm the type to write everything down. Even right now I was taking notes on what you told me about your dad's gloves." The smug tone in the Fullmetal Alchemist's voice made Joshua nervous. "But I'll tell you what. How about we make an exchange?"

Joshua's stomach twisted and a cold shiver ran through him. "You mean like… equivalent exchange…? I give you something and you give me what I need?"

"Don't worry, Colt," Edward laughed on the other side. "I'm not gonna make you sell me your soul. I'll tell you the name of the town and the name of a contact and I'll send you a letter of introduction so you can talk to him. In return, I want you to bring me either a roll of fabric in red with the metal fibers in it or samples of the metal alloy. Bonus points if you bring me both. And guess what? I'll even give you an incentive to bring them to me."

"An incentive?"

"Yup." There was a grin in Edward's voice. "Bring me samples, and I'll make you a pair of shiny new ignition gloves with your phoenix circle on them. By hand of course, given I have no other way to do it."

Joshua laughed genuinely this time. "So the Fullmetal Alchemist knows sewing now huh? You got a deal."

"See? I knew you'd understand." The former alchemist chuckled. "Alright, Colt, write this down."

Joshua scrambled to grab a pencil and a piece of paper as Edward told him the name of the town and how to get there. He told Joshua that he'd send his letter in the mail and to wait a few days until it got there before leaving Central. He hung up the phone afterwards with a sigh, though it wasn't one of stress. He turned and grinned at the girls as they leaned across the back of the couch, looking at him curiously.

"Enjoy your time here in Central, cause we'll be leaving again in a few days. Ready for another trip?"

Nina and Trisha grinned at each other then nodded to Joshua. "You kidding?" Trisha said to him. "We were born to do this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE! (just barely. University sucks)  
> I was writing on this chapter today and I was debating on whether to post this as one long chapter or as multiple medium length chapters. This is part one of Joshua's story. I've got a lot of great things planned for him. I will try my best to update whenever possible. I'm hoping for a slow summer, aside from my first trip on a plane in May.  
> Enjoy! Many apologies!


End file.
